PHOTOGRAPHING THE NEST LIFE OF THl-, OSPREY 



259 



ABOUT READY TO START OUT OX THEIR OWN 



The young birds, nearly full grown, are about to leave the nest and give their wings a try. 

 The parents continue to supply them with food for some time after this initial venture into the 

 outside world. Nests are not commonly built on the ground like this one, except in localities 

 where years of protection have made the birds confident of their security. 



end she let them fight it out, and the family 

 settled down once more to a peaceful life. 



The arrival of the male bird with a fish 

 was invariably heralded by the shrill "tew- 

 tew-tew" of the female, and sometimes by 

 the shriller, long-drawn ''teew-teew-teew" 

 of the male, as he hovered, high in the air, 

 with a fish in his talons. 



In spite of accounts describing the at- 

 tacks of ospreys on ducks, cats, and even 

 children ( !), the bird seems to subsist en- 

 tirely on fish, and one of my fondest hopes 

 was to obtain pictures of the great bird as 

 it crashed into the water and emerged with 

 a fish in its talons. I thought of trying for 

 records of the bird picking up a fish that 



had been thrown out of the nets by the fish- 

 ermen (a thing they often did ) , but decided 

 that that was not exactly what I wanted, 

 for in taking a floating fish the ospre\- 

 merely swings by and i)icks it up by "strik- 

 ing'' as it passes. 



THE PEUNGt; OF THE FISHING OSPREY 



What I wanted was a record of the head- 

 long plunge, the total immersion of the 

 bird, and the manner in which it would 

 emerge with the fish grasped in its talons. 

 In the end I accomjilished my purpose 

 with the help of a special lens and by wait- 

 ing for several days on a part of the shore 

 whence I had sometimes seen ospreys fish- 



