108 FISH HAWK, OR OS PREY. 



of four or five feet, and from two to three feet in breadth ; 

 these were intermixed with corn stalks, seaweed, pieces of wet 

 turf, in large quantities, mullein stalks, and liued with dry 

 sea-grass ; the whole forming a mass very observable at half 

 a mile's distance, and large enough to fill a cart, and be no 

 inconsiderable load for a horse. These materials are so well 

 put together, as often to adhere, in large fragments, after being 

 blown down by the wind. My learned and obliging corre- 

 spondent of New York, Dr Samuel L. Mitchill, observes, that 

 " A sort of superstition is entertained in regard to the fish 

 hawk. It has been considered a fortunate incident to have a 

 nest, and a pair of these birds, on one's farm. They have, 

 therefore, been generally respected ; and neither the axe nor 

 the gun has been lifted against them. Their nest continues 

 from year to year. The same couple, or another, as the case 

 may be, occupies it, season after season. Eepairs are duly 

 made, or, when demolished by storms, it is industriously 

 rebuilt. There was one of these nests, formerly, upon the 

 leafless summit of a venerable chestnut tree on our farm, 

 directly in front of the house, at the distance of less than half 

 a mile. The withered trunk and boughs, surmounted by the 

 coarse wrought and capacious nest, was a more picturesque 

 object than an obelisk : and the flights of the hawks, as they 

 went forth to hunt — returned with their game — exercised 

 themselves in wheeling round and round, and circling about 

 it — were amusing to the beholder, almost from morning to 

 night. The family of these hawks, old and young, was killed 

 by the Hessian Jagers. A succeeding pair took possession of 

 the nest ; but in the course of time, the prongs of the trunk 

 so rotted away, that the nest could no longer be supported. 

 The hawks have been obliged to seek new quarters. We 

 have lost this part of our prospect; and our trees have not 

 afforded a convenient site for one of their habitations since." 



About the first of May, the female fish hawk begins to lay 

 her eggs, which are commonly three in number, sometimes 

 only two, and rarely four. They are somewhat larger than 



