14 



FISH-HAWK, OR OSPREY. 



on them ; tho their great strength of flight, as well of feet and claws, 

 would seem to render this no diilicult 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 num- 

 bers and perseverance, in driving them from their haunts ; but sel- 

 dom 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. &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 neighbour- 

 hood 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 honorable to their feel- 

 ings. 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 up- 

 wards 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 excrements of the bird; but 

 is more probably occasioned by the large heap of wet, salt ma- 

 terials of which it 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 



