WHITE-HEADED OSPEEY (EISH-HAWK). 
of me. Ospreys are still common as far south as Shark’s Bay, and I saw 
some daily in 1911 when hunting through mangroves south of the Gascoyne 
River. They are sparingly distributed along the South-west coast, the old 
nesting site at Cape Mantelle (which I have visited) having been ‘ immor- 
talized ’ by Messrs. A. J. Campbell and A. Milligan. I have never seen a bird 
any distance inland, nor known one to attack lambs or poultry. The earliest 
date on which I have noted eggs was June 25, and the latest on September 6, 
but the latter was probably a second clutch. On December 14, 1896, three 
small young were still in a nest on Fraser Island, near Point Cloates, where 
the birds laid every year, but owing to my natives often visiting there in 
boats, while turtle hunting or fishing, the first lot of eggs rarely escaped being 
taken by them. On the western side of the Exmouth Gulf, where mangroves 
are scarce, several pairs of Ospreys used to build in some white gum trees 
growing at long intervals. The only really inaccessible nest that I ever saw 
was built high up in the small twigs of such a tree. About the first week 
in July was the regular laying date of these birds about the North-west 
Cape.” 
Gould described the Australian Osprey as Pandion le.ucoce'phalus, but 
he recorded Gurney’s opinion that there was only one species of Osprey. 
Sharpe, using Gould’s name, admitted the Australian form subspecifically, 
while all the remainder of the Ospreys were lumped. 
Gurney {Ihis 1882, p. 594) commented : “ In the Ihis for 1867, p. 464, I 
expressed the opinion that the genus Pandion is in reality composed of but 
one species, and that the Osprey is in fact referable to the same species 
throughout the entire area of its almost cosmopolitan range. It must, 
however, be admitted that some slight geographical variations do exist which 
have been recognised by ornithologists of eminence as sufficient grounds for 
subspecific distinction. . . . The Australasian race, to which the title of 
leueoee'phalus has been assigned, seems to me not to be separable from 
P. haliaUns by any constant character except its smaller size ; and even Athis 
is a somewhat variable characteristic.” 
The American race, rejected by Sharpe, is admitted in the Amer. Ornith. 
Union's Check-list, 3rd ed., 1910, p. 168. The Australian race may be also 
recognised, mainly on account of its smaller size and generally whiter head, 
but Gould’s name leueoee'phalus cannot be maintained. 
I used in the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 254, 1912, VieiUot’s name of 
cristatus, as his Buteo cristatus was commonly admitted to refer to the species 
but not utilised. Vieillot’s name was given twenty-two years before Gould’s, 
probably to a bird collected by Peron and Lesueur. However, I later 
observed that Gould’s name had been anticipated, so that under no 
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