44 
FALCO IIALI^TUS. 
“ This morning the female was flying to and 
making a mournful noise.” 
The young of the fish-hawk are remarkahle 
remaining long in the ne.st before they attempt to *•/' 
iNIr Smith’s letter is dated June 30th, at n hich tiD'J 
he observes, they were as large as pullets, and h' 
feathei-ed. Seventeen days after, I myself ascended/ 
this same hawk’s nest, where I found the two reiui'*'' 
ing young oik'S seemingly full grown. They made 'I 
attempts to fly, though they' both ]daccd themselves ’ 
a stem posture of (iefeiiee as 1 examined them at 
leisure. The female had procured a second helpni*^’' 
hut he did not seem to inherit the s|)irit of his pi’‘’®*( 
cessor, for, like a true step-father, he left the nest 
my approach, and sailed about at a safe distance 
his mate, ^vho shewed great anxiety and distress diiflj’'’ 
the whole of my visit. It is universally asserted, j-. 
the ])eopto of the neighbourhood n here tlicse b'J ’ 
breed, that the young' remain so long, before they 
that the j)arents are obliged at last to compel thein / 
shift for themselves, heating them with their wii'r"/ 
and driving- them from the nest. But that they /‘'IJ 
tinue to assist them even after this, I knon- to be a *‘“,J 
from my on u observation, as I have seen the yo"!!^ 
bird meet its ])areut in the air, and receive from b"" 
the fish he ciirried in his claws. 
Tlie flight ot the fish-hawk, his mancouvres wild*-’ 
search of fish, and liis manner of seizing his prey, , 
deserving of particular notice. In leaving the 
he usually flies direct till he comes to the sea, 
sails around, in easy curving lines, turning smneti“‘'\( 
in the air as on a i)ivot, apparently without the 
exertion, rarely moving the n iugs, his legs extended j 
a straight line behind, and his remarkable length, 
curvature, or bend of wing', distinguishing him from ‘ 
other hawks. Tlie height at tvhi<'h In; tims eleg"md 
glides is various, from one hundred to one hundred *J|j 
fifty, and two hundred feet, sometimes much highm,‘ 
the while calmly recouuoitring the face of the de f 
