THE DUSKY GROUSE. 135 
This beautiful piece of composition was afterwards 
shown to the doctor, but he did not seem to be very 
much impressed with it, as he called it bosh. His cyni- 
cal comments at length nettled the one-horse poet so 
much that he solemnly vowed he would never again write 
any verses extolling Pillbox or his gun. 
In less than fifteen minutes after this incident occurred 
we had an opportunity of secing a struggle between an 
eagle and an osprey for the possession of a fish. We had 
noticed the latter bird circling high in the air directly 
above us, but it seemed to us that we had hardly taken 
our eyes off it ere a light cloud darted past us with light- 
ning speed, and ina moment more we heard a whisst, and 
saw the osprey rise from the water with a huge trout 
struggling in its talons. Beating the air heavily with its 
wings, it rose slowly upwards, and gave vent to its feel- 
ings of satisfaction in sharp screams. It had not pro- 
ceeded far on its skyward course, however, ere a speck 
was seen to shoot from the clouds, and a few moments 
later a-bald-headed eagle was plainly visible, as it darted 
at the feathered angler. The latter evaded the blow, and 
began circling upwards, but the other, which was unen- 
cumbered by any weight, rose above it, and both then 
began rising spirally and in broad circles. Finding that 
it was fish or life, the osprey plunged downward with 
lightning speed, in hopes of being able to reach the 
woods, but the monarch of the air was too quick for it, 
and giving it a violent blow on the back, knocked the 
fish out of its talons and a small cloud of feathers out of 
its plumage. The osprey, recognizing that it was dis- 
comfited, fled to a tree and there indulged in loud plaints 
at its treatment, while the eagle darted after the trout, 
and catching it before it touched the water, bore it sky- 
ward in triumph. 
“There is human nature in a nut-shell for you 
claimed Smith. 
1”? ex- 
