BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 103 



If it destroys a few young chickens occasionally, as has been asserted, 

 the immense good which it accomplishes more than balances the mis- 

 chief done Its numerous visits to the barn-yard are not made with 

 the view of depredating upon the farmer's poultry, but for the vermin 

 which frequent his various out-buildings, and are so destructive to his 

 stored grains. Let them be encouraged 'in their visits. They cannot 

 carry away the adult hen, and as for the chicks, they are so well 

 guarded by the mother that, only in rare instances, will this Hawk 

 have the hardihood to venture an assault upon the brood unless it be 

 considerably scattered from the parent, when it will merely single out 

 the most distant chick. r 



The stomach contents of sixty-five of this species which I have dis- 

 sected showed, in thirty-one, principally field-mice, with frequent 

 traces of various insects; twenty-three, mainly grasshoppers and 

 beetles; seven, small birds; two, meadow larks; one, remains of 

 mouse and small bird ; one, insects and small bird. 



SUBFAMILY PANDIONIN!. OSPKEYS. 



GENUS PANDION. SAVIGNY. 

 #54. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (GMEL.) 



American Osprey; Fish Hawk. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Wings, long ; legs, toes and claws, very robust and strong. 



-1 <lult. Head and entire under parts, white ; stripe through the eye, top of the head 

 and upper parts of the body, wings and tail, deep umber-brown, tail having about 

 eight bands of blackish-brown ; breast (particularly in female), more or less spotted 

 with pale yellowish-brown ; bill and claws, bluish-black ; tarsi and toes, grayish- 

 blue. Iris, in some specimens, red, but mostly yellow. 



Young. Similar to the adult, but with the upper plumage edged and tipped with 

 pale-brownish, nearly white ; spots on the breast more numerous and darker colored. 



Total length, female, about 25 inches ; extent, about 52 inches ; wing, 21 inches ; 

 tail, 10| inches ; male rather smaller. 



Hab. North America, from Hudson's bay and Alaska south to the West Indies 

 and northern South America. 



The Fish Hawk, although most numerous about the sea coast, is 

 quite frequently met with along our large rivers. This bird arrives in 

 Pennsylvania generally about the last week in March, and remains 

 sometimes as late as the first of November. Although the Fish Hawk 

 commonly rears its young along the sea coast, it is frequently found 

 breeding near the borders of large rivers or in the vicinity of large 

 inland lakes. The nest, a particularly bulky structure (from 4 to 8 

 feet in diameter), composed chiefly of sticks, and lined with sea- 

 weeds, grasses, etc., is built usually on a large tree, near the water. 

 In Florida, I have found eggs and young of this bird early in March. 

 The Fish Hawk occasionally breeds in Pennsylvania ; nests have been 

 found along the Susquehanna river. 



