348 
OSPREY. 
he seems to survey, for a few moments, with such steadiness that he 
appears fixed in the air, flapping- his wings. This object, however, he 
abandons, and is again seen sailing round as before. Now his attention 
is again arrested, and he descends with great rapidity; but ere he 
reaches the surface, shoots off on another course, as if ashamed that a 
second victim had escaped him. He now sails at a short distance 
above the surface, and by a zigzag descent, and without seeming to dip 
his feet in the water, seizes a fish which, after carrying a short distance, 
he drops, or probably yields up his prey to the bald eagle, and again 
ascends, by easy spiral circles, to the higher regions, where he glides 
about with all the ease and majesty of his species. At once, from the 
sublime serial height, he descends like a perpendicular torrent, plunging 
into the sea with a loud rushing sound, and with the certainty of a 
rifle. In a few moments he emerges, bearing in his claws his struggling 
prey, which he always carries head foremost, and, having risen a few 
feet above the surface, shakes himself as a water-spaniel would do, and 
directs his heavy and laborious course direct for the land. If the wind 
blows hard, and his nest be in the quarter from whence he comes, it is 
amusing to observe with what judgment he beats up to windward ; 
not in a direct line, but making several successive tacks to gain his 
purpose.” * 
In the falcon tribe it is usual for the feathers on the thighs to be 
long, and hang down below the knees ; but in this species the feathers 
on those parts are remarkably short, and consequently better adapted 
for pouncing on their scaly prey, the roughened feet and unusual dis- 
position of its formidable talons, greatly contributing to secure it. 
Short downy feathers continue half way down the front of the legs, 
but not behind. 
An Osprey was seen to stoop and carry of a young half-grown duck 
from the surface of the water, at Slapton Ley. In the struggle, the 
duck fell from the talons of the eagle, but was recovered before it 
reached the water. 
*This species is described by Temminck and Wilson, as migrating in 
winter.* It is common in Russia, France, and Germany, and also in 
Switzerland and Holland. It is said to breed in the Orkney Islands, 
and upon Loch Lomond, and several are shot in Devonshire almost 
every year. Three of these were nearly similar in plumage, but some- 
what different from that described above, which being probably a female, 
it may be proper to describe a male. 
Length about two feet ; breadth five feet six inches. The sides of 
the head behind the eyes are white, extending to the hind head, at 
