346 



OSPREY. 



in this country, a brief description may not be unacceptable. Three 

 of these were seen at Horsing-, Norfolk, and proved upon examina- 

 tion to be an adult, male, and female ; a fourth has also been shot at 

 Holkham Park. 1 



The general plumage is described by Temminck as being of bluish 

 colour, with occasional spots ; cere and legs red ; claws yellow ; the 

 head, neck, and breast, vent, and, in general, all the upper parts of the 

 body, of a greyish-lead colour, without spots ; the thighs, belly, lesser 

 coverts, and the tail spotted with red ; it measures ten inches and six 

 lines in length ; the female is a little larger than the male ; the head, 

 with black longitudinal streaks behind the neck, which is brown with 

 black margins ; the upper part of the body of a bluish-black colour ; the 

 sides of the head and throat of a bright red. The young male resembles 

 the female till after the second moulting, when they begin to assume 

 the plumage of the adult male. It is common in Russia, Poland, 

 Austria, and in Italy, and beyond the Alps. It is very rare in France 

 and Holland. 



ORBIT. — The skin that surrounds the eye, which in some birds is 

 bare of feathers, as in the Heron. 



ORIOLUS (Temminck.) — * Oriole, a genus thus characterised. 

 Bill somewhat conical, flattened at its base, straight, and sharp pointed ; 

 the cutting edges (tomia) scymetar-shaped, and bending a little in- 

 wards ; the upper mandible slightly notched, and longer than the lower 

 one ; nostrils at the side of the base, and naked, pierced in a large 

 membrane ; wings having the first quill very short, and the third the 

 longest ; shank shorter, or at most, not longer than the middle toe ; 

 feet with three toes before and one behind, and having the outer toe 

 joined to the middle one.* 



OSPREY (Pandion Jialiceetus, Savigny.) 



*Balbusardus Haliseetus, Flem. Br. Anim. p. 51 Falco Haliaeetus, Linn. l.p. 



129. 26 Fauna Suec. No. 63 Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 17. 30 Gmel. Syst. 1. 



p. 263.— Muller, No. 66.^Briss. 1. p. 440. 10. t. 34.— Pandion Haliaietus, 

 Vigors, Zool. Jour. 2. p. 336. — Aquila Haliaeetus, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. 

 p. 17. — Falco arundinaceus, Gmel, Syst. 1. p. 263. var. B. a female in moult. — 

 Morphnus seu Clanga, Raii, Syn. p. 7. 6. — Will. (Angl.) p. 63.— Le Balbusard, 

 Buff. Ois. 1. p. 103. t. 2.— Ib. pi. Enl. 414.— Aigle Balbusard, Temm. Man. 

 d'Orn. 1. p. 47. 2d.— Flusadler, Bechst. Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 12.— Meyer, 

 Vog. Deut. 2. Heft 23. a figure of the male.— Osprey, Br. Zool. 1. No. 46.— 

 lb. fol. p. 65. t. A. 1 — Arct. Zool. 2. No. 91.— Lath. Ind. Syn. 1. p. 45. 26. 



— Ib. Supp. p. 13. — Lewin's Br. Birds, 1. t. 5 Mont. Orn. Diet. — Ib. Supp. — 



Wale. Syn. 1. t. 5.— White's Hist. Selb. p. 97.— Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. p. 13 — 

 Shaw's Zool. 7. p. 82— Don. Br. Birds, 3. t. lO.—Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 2 — 

 Wilson's Amer. Orn. 5. p. 13. pi. 28. fig. 1. — Carolina Osprey, Lath. Syn. l.p. 

 46. 26. A Cayenne Osprey, Ib. 1. p. 47. 26. B. — Selby, pi. 4. p. 12. 



1 Mag. of Nat. Hist. iv. 116. 



