FISH HAWK, OR OSPREY. 
Ill 
two remaining young ones seemingly full grown. They made 
no attempts to fly, though they both placed themselves in a 
stern posture of defence as I examined them at my leisure. 
The female had procured a second helpmate ; but he did not 
seem to inherit the spirit of his predecessor, for, like a true 
stepfather, he left the nest at my approach, and sailed about at 
a safe distance with his mate, who shewed great anxiety and 
distress during the whole of my visit. It is universally asserted, 
by the people of the neighbourhood where these birds breed, 
that the young remain so long before they fly, that the parents 
are obliged at last to compel them to shift for themselves, 
beating them with their wings, and driving them from the 
nest. But that they continue to assist them even after this, 
I know to be a fact, from my own observation, as I have seen 
the young bird meet its parent in the air, and receive from 
him the fish he carried in his claws. 
The flight of the Fish Hawk, his manoeuvres while in search 
of fish, and his manner of seizing his prey, are deserving of 
particular notice. In leaving the nest, he usually flies direct 
till he comes to the sea, then sails around, in easy curving 
lines, turning sometimes in the air as on a pivot, apparently 
without the least exertion, rarely moving the wings, his legs 
extended in a straight line behind, and his remarkable length, 
and curvature, or bend of wing, distinguishing him from all 
other Hawks. The height at which he thus elegantly glides 
is various, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty, and two 
hundred feet, sometimes much higher, all the while calmly 
reconnoitering the face of the deep below. Suddenly he is 
seen to check his course, as if struck by a particular object, 
which he seems to survey for a few moments with such steadi- 
ness, that he appears fixed in air, flapping his wings. This 
object, however, he abandons, or rather the fish he had in his 
eye has disappeared, and he is again seen sailing around as 
before. Now his attention is again arrested, and he descends 
with great rapidity ; but ere he reaches the surface, shoots off 
on another course, as if ashamed that a second victim had 
