556 
SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — EAPTOBES — A CCIPITBES. 
32. Family PANDIONID^ : Fish Hawks ; Ospreys. 
See page 498. Plu- 
mage peculiar, close 
and firm, imbricated, 
oily, lacking after- 
sliafts ; head densely 
feathered up to the 
eyes; occipital feath- 
ers lengthened ; legs 
closely feathered, with- 
out any sign of a flag; 
quills of the wings and 
tail acuminate, stiff and 
hard, and the primary 
cov^erts of similar char- 
acter. Feet immense- 
ly large and strong, 
roughly granular-retic- 
ulate ; tarsi little feath- 
ered above in front; 
toes all free to the 
base, the outer versa- 
tile. Claws very large, 
all of equal lengths, 
subcylindric or taper- 
ing terete, not being 
scooped out under- 
neath, but all compressed, and the middle one sharply grooved on the inner face. Bill tooth- 
less, contracted at the cere, elsewhere inflated, with very large hook; gonys convex, ascending; 
nostrils oval, oblique, without tubercle, and in the edge of the cere. The peculiarities of the 
plumage and of the feet are in evident adaptation to the semi- aquatic piscivorous habits of 
these "fishing hawks," which require a water-proof covering, and great talons to grasp their 
slippery quarry. The structural characters are rather those of the buteonine than the falcoiiine 
birds of prey, in the coracoid arrangement, etc. The supraorbital shield is rudimentary^ 
leaving the eye flush with the side of the head. The family consists of a single genus, and 
probably but one cosmopolitan species, the well-known Osprey, Pandion haliaetus. 
188. PANDl'ON. (Gr. navdiav, Lat. Pandion, nom. propr. Fig. 385.) Ospreys. To the 
foregoing add : Wings very long, pointed ; 2d and 3d prnnaries longest ; 1st between 3d and 
5th ; 3 outer ones abruptly emarginate on inner webs, and 2d to 4th sinuate on outer webs. 
Tail short, scarcely or not half as long as the wing. Sexes alike ; 9 larger. Young similar. 
530. P. haliae'tus. (See Haliaetus.) Fish Hawk. Osprey. Adult $ 9 Above, dark van- 
dyke-brown, blackening on the quills, the feathers of the upper parts more or less completely 
edged with white — the older the bird, the more conspicuous the white markings. Tail dark 
brown with dusky bars, white tip and shafts, and inner webs of all but the middle pair of 
feathers regularly barred with white and dark. Head, neck, and under parts white, the crown 
more or less extensively streaked with blackish, and a heavy blackish postocular stripe to the nape ; 
the breast more or less spotted with dusky brown ; the white more or less tinged with tawny in 
some places, especially under the wings and on the head. Coloration very variable in the relative 
Fig.- 385. — The Fish Hawk, or Osprey. (After J. Wolf.) 
