The Oshrey. is? 



blew the bii-(l in pieces with a sliot from liis g-uii while it was in the trap, but 

 the writer saw the head and feet which were those of an Osprey. Another is 

 stated to have been caught in a trap baited with a rabbit, and Montagu saw an 

 Osprey swoop down and carry off a young wild Duck on Slapton Le}' ; "the Duck, 

 by struggling, fell from the talons of the Eagle, but was again recovered before 

 it reached the water." The Osprey poises itself, hovering like a Kestrel, while 

 searching the water beneath for food, which it catches in its claws, flying off with 

 it to devour on some favourite perch. Its feet are adapted to the capture of fish, 

 the outer toe is reversible, the claws curved and sharp, and the soles of the feet 

 are rough and papillate, all assisting it to catch and grasp the slipper}' prey ; from 

 their peculiar structure the claws are not easily withdrawn when once the}' are 

 inserted, and this sometimes costs the bird its life when it has seized some fish 

 too heavy for it to lift, which has dragged it beneath the water, and drowned it. 



Lord Lilford writes : — " the appearance of the Ospre}' on wing is most 

 singularly graceful, the long and, comparatively speaking, narrow wings, and the 

 peculiar angle at which they are spread whilst the bird is hunting for its pre}-, 

 distinguish it at any distance from any other European species. Although this 

 bird very frequently hovers for a second or two before making its stoop, it 

 generally dashes at its quarr}- from a certain height, and often seems simply to 

 lift it from the water in its talons. On the other hand, it is common to see the 

 Osprey plunge headlong below the surface for an instant ; I need hardly say that 

 it does not pursue fishes under the water. The method of the Osprey differs from 

 that of the Falcons in this particular, that whereas the latter birds on missing 

 their quarry at the first stoop, almost invariabl}^ mount before making a second, 

 the present bird, if its intended victim moves during the stoop, checks its flight 

 for a moment, and makes another attempt from the lower pitch."" The Osprey 

 prefers shallow waters to fish in, and is sometimes noted on the Norfolk Broads 

 searching for flounders in the muddy creeks, " following the course of the channels, 

 and fishing in exactly the same manner that Gulls ma}- be noticed when picking 

 up the floating refuse in a tideway, the only difference being that a Gull seizes 

 the food with his beak, while an Osprey grasps it in his claws." * Lord Lilford 

 found the great lagoons of Sardinia, Corsica, and Tunis, to be favourite resorts 

 of Ospreys. In this country large sheets of water in parks and inland meres are 

 occasionally visited. 



At the present day the Osprey is rare even in Scotland, where it was once 

 to be found by many of the lochs, and now only nests in one or two closely- 

 guarded places in the Highlands. A Scotch fir is the fa^■ourite tree on which it 



* From '■ Rough Notes," by Booth. 



Vol. hi 2 B 



