FISH HAWK, OR OS PREY. j y 



their great strength of flight, as well as of feet and claws, 

 would seem to render this no difficult matter. But they no 

 sooner arrive, than they wage war on the bald eagles, as against 

 a horde of robbers and banditti ; sometimes succeeding, by 

 force of numbers and perseverance, in driving them from their 

 haunts, but seldom or never attacking them in single combat. 



The first appearance of the fish hawk in spring is welcomed 

 by the fishermen, as the happy signal of the approach of those 

 vast shoals of herring, shad, &c, that regularly arrive on our 

 coasts, and enter our rivers in such prodigious multitudes. 

 Two of a trade, it is said, seldom agree ; the adage, however, 

 will not hold good in the present case, for such is the respect 

 paid the fish hawk, not only by this class of men, but, generally, 

 by the whole neighbourhood where it resides, that a person 

 who should attempt to shoot one of them would stand a fair 

 chance of being insulted. This prepossession in favour of the 

 fish hawk is honourable to their feelings. They associate* 

 with its first appearance, ideas of plenty, and all the gaiety of 

 business ; they see it active and industrious like themselves ; 

 inoffensive to the productions of their farms ; building with 

 confidence, and without the least disposition to concealment, 

 in the middle of their fields, and along their fences; and 

 returning, year after year, regularly to its former abode. 



The nest of the fish hawk is usually built on the top of a 

 dead, or decaying tree, sometimes not more than fifteen, often 

 upwards of fifty feet, from the ground. It has been remarked 

 by the people of the sea coasts, that the most thriving tree will 

 die in a few years after being taken possession of by the fish 

 hawk. This is attributed to the fish oil, and to the excre- 

 ments of the bird ; but is more probably occasioned by the 

 large heap of wet salt materials of which the nest is usually 

 composed. In my late excursions to the sea shore, I ascended 

 to several of these nests that had been built in from year to 

 year, and found them constructed as follows : — Externally, 

 large sticks, from half an inch to an inch and a half in 

 diameter, and two or three feet in length, piled to the height 



