THE OSPREY. 157 
blew the bird in pieces with a shot from his gun while it was in the trap, but 
the writer saw the head and feet which were those of an Osprey. Another is 
stated to have been caught in a trap baited with a rabbit, and Montagu saw an 
Osprey swoop down and carry off a young wild Duck on Slapton Ley; ‘“‘the Duck, 
by struggling, fell from the talons of the Eagle, but was again recovered before 
it reached the water.” The Osprey poises itself, hovering like a Kestrel, while 
searching the water beneath for food, which it catches in its claws, flying off with 
it to devour on some favourite perch. Its feet are adapted to the capture of fish, 
the outer toe is reversible, the claws curved and sharp, and the soles of the feet 
are rough and papillate, all assisting it to catch and grasp the slippery prey; from 
their peculiar structure the claws are not easily withdrawn when once they are 
inserted, and this sometimes costs the bird its life when it has seized some fish 
too heavy for it to lift, which has dragged it beneath the water, and drowned it. 
Lord Lulford writes:—‘‘the appearance of the Osprey on wing is most 
singularly graceful, the long and, comparatively speaking, narrow wings, and the 
peculiar angle at which they are spread whilst the bird is hunting for its prey, 
distinguish it at any distance from any other European species. Although this 
bird very frequently hovers for a second or two before making its stoop, it 
generally dashes at its quarry from a certain height, and often seems simply to 
lift it from the water in its talons. On the other hand, it is common to see the 
Osprey plunge headlong below the surface for an instant; I need hardly say that 
it does not pursue fishes under the water. The method of the Osprey differs from 
that of the Falcons in this particular, that whereas the latter birds on missing 
their quarry at the first stoop, almost invariably mount before making a second, 
the present bird, if its intended victim moves during the stoop, checks its flight 
for a moment, and makes another attempt from the lower pitch.” ‘The Osprey 
prefers shallow waters to fish in, and is sometimes noted on the Norfolk Broads 
searching for flounders in the muddy creeks, ‘following the course of the channels, 
and fishing in exactly the same manner that Gulls may be noticed when picking 
up the floating refuse in a tideway, the only difference being that a Gull seizes 
the food with his beak, while an Osprey grasps it in his claws.’* Lord Lilford 
found the great lagoons of Sardinia, Corsica, and Tunis, to be favourite resorts 
of Ospreys. In this country large sheets of water in parks and inland meres are 
occasionally visited. 
At the present day the Osprey is rare even in Scotland, where it was once 
to be found by many of the lochs, and now only nests in one or two closely- 
guarded places in the Highlands. A Scotch fir is the favourite tree on which it 
« From ‘Rough Notes,’”’ by Booth. 
Vor. UI 2B 
