252 Accipitres. BIRDS. Falconid.3s. 
time this species was very abundant about the Falls 
of Niagara, watching, in company with the ravens and 
vultures, for the carcases of animals brought down 
by the force of the great cataract. In obtaining his 
supply of fresh fish, the White-headed eagle exhibits 
an amount of sagacity which preserves him from 
the unjfieasant consequences sometimes attending the 
piscatorial proceedings of his European congener — in 
fact, he does his fishing by proxy. Perching on the 
bough of a tree, or on some other elevated position 
on the coast, he watches the manceuvi'es of one of his 
near relations, the smaller and less powerful osprej^ or 
fish-hawk {Pandion IPdiaetus). As soon as he sees 
the osprey dash down into the waters, and emerge 
again with his prey struggling in his talons, the Bald 
eagle quits his post of observation and darts off in 
pursuit of the successful fisher. Tlie latter, encumbered 
with his prey, is quite unable to contend in flight 
with his pursuer, who endeavours to rise above him ; 
and the manoeuvres of the birds in this struggle for the 
upper hand, are described as exceedingly interesting. 
The conclusion of the affair is, however, nearly always 
the same — the eagle, being quite unencumbered, gen- 
erally overcomes the osprcj' ; the latter lets his prey 
drop with a scream of disgust ; and the piratical pursuer 
tlien descends with astonishing rapidity, and usually 
manages to secure the booty before it reaches the 
water. One can sympathize with Wilson in his regret 
that so unprincipled a bird should have been selected 
as the emblem of the United States ; for, notwithstand- 
ing the ingenuity displayed in the proceedings just 
described, it must be confessed that the industrious 
osprey is the more respectable animal of the two. 
Occasionally, however, a kind of revolution takes place ; 
the ospreys, on a stretch of coast infested by a Bald 
eagle, seem to grow tired of the exactions of their 
])lunderer, and, making common cause, drive him 
from their precincts. Under these circumstances he 
often directs his course inland, where he commits great 
depredations amongst the weaker domestic animals — 
little pigs and lambs are said to be particular objects 
of his attention. Wilson also mentions an instance in 
which one of these birds, pressed by hunger, attem2)ted 
to carry off a young child, and actually dragged it 
along for several feet, when its frock fortunately giving 
way, the robber was disappointed of his expected meal. 
The White-headed eagle builds sometimes on the 
rocks and sometimes amongst the branches of tall trees. 
The nest is composed of the same substances as that of 
the White-tailed eagle, sticks, tufts of grass, &c. ; it 
serves the birds for several years, and is added to at 
every breeding season, so that in course of time it 
consists of a vast mass of materials. The eggs are two 
in number, of a bluish-white colour, without any spots, 
and, according to Wilson, one of the eggs is laid a 
considerable time before the other. The parents are 
much attached to their young, which they tend with 
great assiduity, and the female has been known to 
adhere so pertinaciously to her young family, when the 
tree containing her nest had been set on fire, that at 
last she made her escajie with considerable difficulty. 
THE WHITE-BELLIED bEA EAGLE {Haliaetus leuco- 
gaster) is a rather smaller species than the preceding. 
which is found, although not very abundantly, about 
the coasts and lakes of the East Indies and its islands, 
and also in Australia. In some parts of India, accord- 
to Mr. Blyth, it is known as the SnaJce-lciller, a name 
which is also applied to the Circaetus gallicus ; the 
natives of Sumatra call it the Bald eagle, and on the 
coasts it appears to subsist principally upon fish, which 
it often carries off from the nets or boats of the 
fishermen. Mr. Gould says that in Australia these 
birds do not capture living fish by plunging into the 
water, but content themselves with the dead fish and 
cetacea which are thrown up on the beach ; they also 
probably feed upon raollusca and other marine animals, 
and Mr. Blyth found some joints of crastacea in an 
Indian specimen examined by him. They nidificate, 
according to Mr. Gould, sometimes in trees and some- 
times on the rocks. The sexes are similar in their 
plumage, having the head, neck, and the whole lower 
surface of the body white, the back and wings grey, 
the primaries and base of the tail feathers blackish, and 
tips of the latter white. 
THE OSPREY [Pandion Haliaetus) also known as 
the Fish-Hawk, is a small species of the tribe of 
eagles, to the piscatorial accomplishments of which we 
have alread}'' alluded. Its peculiar adaptation for the 
capture of fish is evidenced by the structure of the 
lower surface of the toes, the skin of this part being 
formed into rough cushions, and each of the granula- 
tions of the skin terminates in a point or spine, which 
cannot but be of the greatest service to the bird in 
seizing upon the slippery struggling fishes which con- 
stitute its principal nourishment. It is a robust bird, 
with long and powerful wings, and a strong beak ; the 
tarsi are short and stout, and their granular scales 
present an arrangement by which this bird and the 
other members of its genus may be at once recognized. 
The scales of the front of the tarsus are imbricated 
downwards, that is to say, the margin of each scale 
overlies the one below it ; but on the back of the tar- 
sus this arrangement is reversed, and the lower scales 
overlie those above them. The outer toe, also, is 
capable of being turned either forward or backward, 
an arrangement which must evidently assist the birds 
materially in overcoming their slippery prey. 
The Common osprey measures about twenty-two 
inches in length; the general colour of its plumage on 
the upper surface and wings is dark brown, and on 
the lower surface white-, with a few brownish feathers 
on the breast ; the tips of the primaries are black, and 
the tail feathers are banded with two shades of brown. 
Tlie beak is black, with the cere blue, and the feet are 
also blue, Avith black claws, Avliich, unlike those of the 
rapacious birds in general, are not grooved beneath. 
The osprey Avhich is, at all events partially, a migra- 
tory bird, is found in almost all parts of the Avorld, 
generally on the sea-coast, but frequently also on the 
banks of lakes and rivers far inland. It occurs abun- 
dantly on the .shores of North America, and is almost 
equally plentiful in Europe ; it is also an inhabitant of 
Northern Asia, and extends its range south Avard as far 
as India in the eastern, and Honduras in the Avestern 
hemisphere. It appears to reside in the temperate 
and colder climates during the summer, and to move 
