30 falconidjE. 



In but one instance, has the osprey in a wild state come under 

 my observation in Ireland. This was on the 13th of July, 1834, 

 at the Lower Lake of Killarney, when a single bird appeared for 

 short time in view, displayed its mode of fishing, and struck at 

 some prey on the surface of the water. The species was familiar 

 to me, as I had previously become acquainted with its appearance 

 and manner of fishing at the lakes of Lucerne and Maggiore. A 

 fine specimen, purchased in 1833 in Dublin, — and now in the 

 Belfast Museum, — was said to have been killed in the Queen's 

 County a few years before that time. One is recorded as having 

 been seen in August, 1835, at Oughterard, county of Galway,* 

 in which district others have been shot. One was obtained at 

 Garristown, county of Kildare, on the 23d of October, 1837, where 

 it had been seen for about three weeks before being killed.t Two 

 were procured on the 19th of October, 1839, at a pond near the 

 Kingstown and Dublin Railway : one of them which came into 

 Mr. R. Ball's possession weighed 2| lbs., and was 22 inches in 

 length. The periods of occurrence of five only of the preceding 

 birds were noted: one appeared in the month of July, one in 

 August, and three in October. 



My friend Mr. Richard Langtry, on his return to Belfast in 

 November, 1839, from three months' shooting at Aberarder, in 

 Inverness-shire, mentioned his having seen an osprey at Loch 

 Ruthven in the month of August, and watched it for some- 

 time. This bird had no sooner captured a fish than it was follow- 

 ed by a gray crow, which harassed it for about a quarter of an 

 hour, when both pursuer and pursued disappeared from Ins view 

 together. The crow once struck the osprey, which however kept 

 firm hold of its prey, though unable to commence its repast. This 

 being the only osprey which my friend had seen in Scotland, 

 though some months there every year in the shooting season, he 

 remarked, how much more common it is about some of the small 

 lakes and rivers in Canada, where one would appear in view about 

 every half hour during the day. At Mud Lake they were parti- 



in this island, has to my knowledge been yet recorded, although we might expect 

 it to do so. 



* Mag. Nat. Hist. ix. 128. f Mr. T. W. Warren. 



