126 
PANDION HALIAETUS. 
eggs is nearly always three. Mr. Dresser remarks that in a large series he has found most ot the eggs to be 
white, richly spotted and blotched with deep chestnut-red, and sparingly marked with a few purplish-grey under- 
lying blurs or markings ; in one or two the deep red blotches were so close as almost to hide the ground- 
colour. 
The specimen figured in Hewitson’s f British Birds’ Eggs,’ pi. iii., has the larger markings in the form of 
softened clouds of brownish red in a zone round the large end, while the rest of the surface of the shell is 
tolerably profusely covered with linear blotches of a paler hue. The average dimensions are 2'5 inches by 19. 
The singular fact' is recorded by Wilson, that “the most thriving tree will die in a few years after being taken 
possession of by the Fish-Hawk;” and he remarks that this is attributed to the fish-oil and to the excrement 
of birds, but is more probably occasioned by the large heap of wet salt materials of which the nest is com- 
posed. The Osprey, if it really does remain all the year round in the island of Manaar, may perhaps breed 
on some of the gigantic Baobab-trees ( Adansonia digitata ) which are common there, and supposed to have been 
introduced by Arabs centuries ago. 
Suborder STRIGES. 
Outer toe reversible. Eyes directed forwards and encircled by a facial disk. Nostrils 
generally hidden by stiff bristles. Plumage soft and fluffy, libia more than double the length 
of tarsus. Tail with twelve feathers. ( Sharpe , Cat. B. ii. p. 1.) 
Earn. BUBONIM. 
Hinder margin of sternum always deeply cleft, two or more notches being present ; furcula 
free; inner margin of middle claw not serrated. (Sharpe, Cat. Birds, ii. p. 1.) 
Subfam. BUBONINiE. 
Head usually furnished with two large tufts at the sides of the forehead ; facial disk imper- 
fectly developed above the eye ; ear-conch small and without an operculum. Tarsus stout, nearly 
always feathered. 
