28 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
world. In summer it wanders into the Arctic regions of 
Europe, Asia, and America ; it is also equally prevalent in the 
milder parts of both continents, as in Greece and Egypt. In 
America it is found in the summer from Labrador, and the 
interior around Hudson’s Bay, to Florida ; and according to 
Buffon, it extends its residence to the tropical regions of 
Cayenne. 
Its food being almost uniformly fish, it readily acquires sub- 
sistence as long as the waters remain unfrozen; but at the 
commencement of cool weather, even as early as the close of 
September, or at farthest the middle of October, these birds 
leave New York and New Jersey and go farther south. This 
early period of departure is, in all probability, like their arrival 
towards the close of March, wholly regulated by the coming 
and going of the shoals of fish on which they are accustomed 
to feed. Towards the close of March or beginning of April 
they arrive in the vicinity of Boston with the first shoal of 
alewives or herrings ; but yet are seldom known to breed along 
the coast of Massachusetts. Their arrival in the spring is wel- 
comed by the fisherman as the sure indication of the approach 
of those shoals of shad, herring, and other kinds of fish which 
now begin to throng the bays, inlets, and rivers near the ocean ; 
and the abundance with which the waters teem affords ample 
sustenance for both the aerial and terrestrial fishers, as each 
pursues in peace his favorite and necessary employment. In 
short, the harmless industry of the Osprey, the familiarity with 
which he rears his young around the farm, his unexpected 
neutrality towards all the domestic animals near him, his sub- 
limely picturesque flight and remarkable employment, with the 
strong affection displayed towards his constant mate and long 
helpless young, and the wrongs he hourly suffers from the 
pirate Eagle, are circumstances sufficiently calculated, without 
the aid of ready superstition, to ensure the public favor and 
tolerance towards this welcome visitor. Driven to no harsh 
necessities, like his superiors the Eagles, he leads a compar- 
atively harmless life ; and though unjustly doomed to servitude, 
his address and industry raise him greatly above his oppressor, 
so that he supplies himself and his young with a plentiful 
