340 FISH HAWK, OR OSPREY. 
grasp, which struggled and shook him so, that he dropped it on the 
shore. The flounder was picked up, and served the whole family for 
dinner. It is singular that the Hawk never descends to pick up a fish 
which he happens to drop, either on the land or on the water. There 
is a kind of abstemious dignity in this habit of the Hawk, superior to 
the gluttonous voracity displayed by most other birds of prey, particu- 
larly by the Bald Eagle, whose piratical robberies committed on the 
present species have been already fully detailed in treating of his 
history. The Hawk, however, in his fishing pursuits, sometimes mis- 
takes his mark, or overrates his strength, by striking fish too large and 
powerful for him to manage, by whom he is suddenly dragged under; 
and, though he sometimes succeeds in extricating himself, after being 
taken three or four times down, yet oftener both parties perish. The 
bodies of sturgeon, and several other large fch, with that of a Fish 
Hawk fast grappled in them, have at different ames, been found dead 
on the shore, cast up by the waves. 
The Fish Hawk is doubtless the most numerous of all its genus 
within the United States. It penetrates far into the interior of the 
country up our large rivers, and their head waters. It may be said to 
line the sea-coast from Georgia to Canada. In some parts I have 
counted, at one view, more than twenty of their nests within half a 
mile. Mr. Gardiner informs me, that on the small island on which he 
resides, there are at least “three hundred nests of Fish Hawks that 
have young, which, on an average, consume probably not less than six 
hundred fish daily.” Before they depart in the autumn, they regularly 
repair their nests, carrying up sticks, sods, &c., fortifying them against 
the violence of the winter storms, which, from this circumstance, they 
would seem to foresee and expect. But, notwithstanding all their 
precautions, they frequently, on their return in spring, find them lying 
in ruins around the roots of the tree; and sometimes the tree itself 
has shared the same fate. When a number of Hawks, to the amount 
of twenty or upwards, collect together on one tree, making a loud 
squealing noise, there is generally a nest built soon after on the same 
tree. Probably this congressional assembly were settling the right of 
the new pair to the premises; or it might be a kind of wedding, 
or joyous festive meeting on the occasion. They are naturally of a 
mild and peaceable disposition, living together in great peace and 
harmony ; for, though with them, as in the best regulated communities, 
instances of attack and robbery occur among themselves, yet these 
instances are extremely rare. Mr. Gardiner observes, that they are 
sometimes seen high in the’ air, sailing and cutting strange gambols, 
with loud vociferations, darting down several hundred feet perpendicu- 
lar, frequently with part of a fish in one claw, which they seem proud 
of, and to claim high hook, as the fishermen call him who takes the 
greatest number. On.these occasions, they serve as a barometer to 
foretell the changes of the atmosphere ; for, when the Fish Hawks are 
seen thus sailing high in air, in circles, it is universally believed 
to prognosticate a change of weather, often a thunder storm, in a few 
hours. On the faith of the certainty of these signs, the experienced 
coaster wisely prepares for the expected storm, and is rarely mistaken. 
There is one singular trait in the character of this bird, which i 
mentioned in treating of the Purple Grak e, and which I have since 
