8 



so far as I could judge, it rarely strikes a fish unless it is close to the surface. Occasionally 

 it will strike a fish too large to lift ; and in such case, unless able to extricate its talons, it is 

 dragged under the surface again and again until it is drowned. Professor Newton states that 

 Mr. Lloyd records one having met with this fate ; and Mr. Knox mentions a case in which the 

 bird, having landed its prey, was unable to extricate its talons therefrom, and so fell a victim to 

 the crook of a shepherd who had witnessed the capture. I well recollect, when collecting along 

 the shore of the Bay of Fundy, just outside Musquash harbour, seeing an Osprey, after hovering 

 a short time, strike a fish which it was unable to lift ; and after being dragged beneath the surface 

 time after time, and making every effort to release itself, it was at length carried out and disap- 

 peared. Unfortunately no boat was at hand ; or I could, I fully believe, have secured both bird 

 and fish. In a note received from Mr. Bobert Collett, of Christiania, he says, " sometimes the 

 Osprey strikes a fish of too large a size, and thus perishes in its attempts to secure it ; and in one 

 of our lakes a huge pike was caught which had still attached to its back the remains of an 

 Osprey's skeleton." 



The Osprey feeds on various kinds of fish. In New Brunswick I generally found that in the 

 fresh water it fed on the red trout, and probably also on the large grey lake-trout, there called 

 togue, and in the salt water on shad. Naumann states that it is especially fond of carp and 

 trout ; and Mr. Collett informs me that in Norway it feeds chiefly on trout (Salmo eriox, var. 

 fario) and pike, as well as on bream and different species of the genus Leuciscus. It carries the 

 fish lengthwise, and not crosswise, doubtless so as to avoid being impeded in its flight. Professor 

 Newton says that one " in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, when a fish was 

 given to it, was observed to seize it across the body, placing the inner and outer toes at right 

 angles with the middle and hind toes, and, digging-in the claws, held the fish most firmly by four 

 opposite points, not relaxing its hold or altering the position of the toes, but picking out the 

 portions of flesh from between them with great dexterity." 



.The nest of the Osprey is placed either on a tree or else on a rock, according to locality ; 

 but, so far as I can judge, it nests in preference on trees, if in a wooded district. Mr. Collett 

 informs me that in Norway it usually nests on trees, but in a bare treeless locality it places its 

 nest on a rock or on the ground ; and at Jsederen and in the Stavanger district, where there are 

 no trees, it always nests on small islets and on large stones or rocks in the lakes. A nest he 

 examined near Salsvand, on the Foldenfjord, which was placed on the top of a large pine, was 

 constructed of sticks and lined with moss and lichens. The nest is usually a very bulky structure, 

 the lower portion being very large. It is constructed of stout sticks tolerably closely worked 

 together ; and the cup, which is flat, is composed of moss. Mr. Wolley describes (Ooth. Wolleyana, 

 i. p. 62) one from Sutherlandshire as follows: — "The nest'was on the south-west side of a large 

 stone, loose, or apparently so ; and its level was on a line with the top of the stone. Below the 

 stone was some turf and grass, and a little shrub growing. It seemed very compact, like an 

 ants' ; and at the top was much moss, but disordered as if not touched since last year. The 

 landing appeared to be perfectly easy. The stone looked from the bank to be about five feet 

 high. The nest seemed to be made of sticks, mixed up with fine turf-soil, and apparently a little 

 heather amongst it." And one in a tree in East Bothnia was, he says (p. 66), " made of good- 

 sized sticks, large at the top, lined with tree-hair and moss." With us in Europe, so far as I 



