OUR HOME BIRDS. 
201 
word. In a still evening it may be heard at the dis- 
tance of a nearly a mile, the tones of its voice being 
stronger and more full than those of the whip-poor- 
will, who utters his with much greater rapidity/ 
“ The fish-hawk, or osprey (Front. Fig. 2), is much 
larger than the other species, being fully twenty-two 
inches long, and is usually found on the sea-coast and 
along the banks of large rivers. As its name implies, 
it is an expert fisher, and ‘ subsists altogether on the 
finny tribes that swarm in our bays, creeks, and riv- 
ers, procuring its prey by its own active skill and in- 
dustry, and seeming no further dependent on the land 
than as a mere resting-place, or in the usual season 
a spot of deposit for its nests, eggs, and young/ 
“ This bird is of a deep-brown color, varied with 
black and white, and his legs and feet are unusually 
large and strong, being covered with flat scales of 
remarkable strength and thickness, resembling, when 
dry, the teeth of a large rasp, particularly on the soles, 
and .are intended, no doubt, to enable him to grasp his 
slippery prey with more security. 
“ ‘ 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, 
etc. 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 
