THE EAGLES 97 



ground he did not see a single one, nor did any of the 

 people seem to know anything of this splendid bird. 



In the British Isles, though very rare now, the Osprey 

 seems to have been fairly common in days gone by. Half 

 a century ago two nests were known to exist in Galloway, 

 and a century ago there were Ospreys on Ullswater, one 

 of the loveliest of our English lakes. And still, from year 

 to year, we hear of pairs or single specimens being seen on 

 quiet lakes even in the south of England — too often 

 arriving only to be shot. 



William Harrison, in Holinshed's Chronicles, tells us, 

 among other quaint doings in the England of Queen 

 Elizabeth, how the Fish-Hawk was made of use. He says : 

 " We have also Osprays, which breed with us in parks and 

 woods, whereby the keepers of the same do reap at such 

 times no small commodity [make no little profit] for, so 

 soon almost as the young are hatched, they tie them 

 to the butt ends or ground ends of sundry trees, where 

 the old ones, finding them, do never cease to bring 

 fish unto them, which the keepers take and eat from 

 them." 



In the Highlands, says Mr. Charles Dixon, the nest 

 nowadays is usually made on the broad, flat top of a pine 

 tree, but formerly it was quite as often built on ruins or 

 rocky islands. He describes his first sight of an Osprey, 

 close to the head- waters of Loch Carron. " The bird was 

 about thirty feet above the water, passing along, hovering 

 every now and then with quivering wings, alternated with 

 rapid beats, as is so often the way of our better-known 

 Kestrel. We watched it poise for a moment and drop 

 down, like a gannet, into the water, the noise as it struck 

 the surface being heard distinctly from the shore. The 

 bird rose again in a few seconds, and slowly retired to a 

 7 



