OSPREY. 
PANDION IIALIAETUS. 
In England, during spring and autumn, the Osprey may generally he observed in certain localities in the 
southern and eastern counties. The western division of Sussex and the east of Norfolk appear to have particular 
attractions for these birds. At different times I have seen three or four in the neighbourhood of Shoreham, 
in addition to several others reported by local gunners; while in the broad- district near Yarmouth I occasionally 
have noticed as many as half a dozen in the course of a few weeks, and some years back a gamekeeper 
obtained three immature specimens in a couple of days on one piece ol water. 
Erom the number observed at these seasons, it is probable that our southern coasts are visited at the time 
of migration by stragglers from the continent, as well as our native birds, that are on their way to and 
from their breeding-quarters in the Highlands. The great majority of the specimens obtained are, as a rule, 
in immature plumage; and more than once I have seen them in Norlolk all through May and as late as the 
first week in June. These, of course, must have been birds that would not have nested that season. 
Several pairs of Ospreys still resort to the central and northern districts of the Highlands, and take up 
their quarters for the summer months. Though their natural food is everywhere abundant, and the whole 
face of the country is wild and deserted, they are but seldom observed among the Western Islands. I never 
noticed a single specimen in the Outer Hebrides ; and, after many inquiries of keepers and shepherds (who 
were, I discovered, well acquainted with the species from having seen them on the mainland), I could hear of but 
one bird having been met with in the district, and that was passed at sea during a fresh breeze of wind halfway 
between Loch Shell and the Shiant Islands. It is probable that, owing to the absence of trees or rocky 
islets * and old buildings on the freshwater lochs, they may be unable to find suitable nesting-quarters. To 
the same cause their scarcity in Caithness may be ascribed : trout are to be found in every loch and burn, 
while solitude reigns supreme over the northern and western parts of the county ; still it is only on rare 
occasions that an Osprey makes it appearance. 
Eormerly they often frequented the mountain-loclis among the bleak and barren moors, where a few st unted 
firs or dwarfed birches tvere the only timber. At the present time their favourite resorts, with but few 
exceptions, are the more open parts of dense pine-forests that cover either steep hill-sides or rough marshy 
low ground. In one or two instances the journey to their eyrie is an undertaking of no slight labour. It is 
necessary to force a way through tangled heather of gigantic growth, entwined in places with matted bushes of 
juniper or bog-myrtle, while here and there waving bogs of green and treacherous moss arc intersected by 
stagnant pools or streams concealed by luxuriant rushes and rank water-plants. At not unfrequent intervals 
huge rocks and crumbling precipices or gullies, cut by winter torrents and blocked by fallen trees with sharp 
* I was told of a small island, in a loch at a short distance from the coast, where formerly some large bird of prey (possibly the White- 
tailed Eagle) had nested. I started to visit the spot ; but a heavy storm, accompanied by blinding squalls of snow, rendered our journey, which 
had partly to be made by boat, utterly impossible. 
