Plate XXXIX. 



Fig. 7. PANDION HALIAETUS CAROLINE^SIS~Fish Hawk. 



The Fish Hawk, or American Osprey, is an irregular spring and foil migrant throughout the state. 

 They are generally seen in pairs, but in the fall, occasionally in families. A few that enter the state in 

 the spring do not go beyond its borders to breed, being induced to remain by the good fishing afforded 

 in the lakes and large rivers. 



LOCALITY: 



The nest is placed always in a tree near the supply of food; and, as fish constitute the sole diet 

 of this species, it is usually found near some, considerable bod}^ of water. Along the shore of Lake 

 Erie pines and oaks furnish the usual sites, but the sycamore and other hard-w^ood trees are occupied 

 about reservoirs and rivers. 



POSITTOTn-: . 



Dr. Brew^er, in "IS'orth American Birds," says the nest is ahvays built in the top of a tree. Some- 

 times it is many feet above ground, and sometimes it is in a small tree not more than twenty or thirty 

 feet high. 



MATERIALS : 



The nest is made entirely of sticks. These are gathered fi^om the ground, and are as large and 

 clumsy as the bird can manage. They are interwoven into a strong platform about three feet in diameter, 

 and the first season about tAvo or three feet thick. The same nest is occupied for a series of years, and 

 each season a new^ lot of sticks is piled upon the old structure until in time it becomes five or six feet 

 in height. . 



EGGS: 



The number of eggs in a set varies from two to three. The ground-color of the shell is creamy 

 white. The markings consist of large blotches, spots, and speckles, varying in different specimens from 

 a wine-red to purplish-browm, but usually a tolerably pure brown-madder. The deep shell-marks vary 

 from a faint blue-gray to smoky-brown, according to the depth of the color beneath the surface. 



No particular pattern can be described as usual among eggs so variable. Sometimes the shell is 

 entirely washed with brown, and sometimes there are but few spots upon it. The color of the markings 

 is the only thing of any uniformity about them. They measure in long-diameter from 2.20 to 2.60, and 

 in short-diameter from 1.75 to 1.90. A common size is 2.35 x 1.80. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 



There is no other nest and eggs with which this is at all likely to be confounded. 



129 



