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FISH HAWK, OR OSPREY. 
escaped him. He now sails at a short height above the surface, 
and by a zigzag descent, and without seeming to dip his feet 
in the water, seizes a fish, which, after carrying a short distance, 
lie probably drops, or yields up to the Bald Eagle, and again 
ascends, by easy spiral circles, to the higher regions of the air, 
where he glides about in all the ease and majesty of his species. 
At once, from this sublime aerial height, he descends like a 
perpendicular torrent, plunging into the sea with a loud rush- 
ing sound, and with the certainty of a rifle. In a few moments 
he emerges, bearing in his claws his struggling prey, which 
he always carries head foremost, and, having risen a few feet 
above the surface, shakes himself as a water spaniel would do, 
and directs his heavy and laborious course directly for the 
land. If the wind blow hard, and his nest lie in the quarter 
from whence it comes, it is amusing to observe with what 
judgment and exertion he beats to windward, not in a direct 
line, that is, in the wind's eye , but making several successive 
tacks to gain his purpose. This will appear the more striking, 
when we consider the size of the fish which he sometimes 
bears along. A shad was taken from a Fish Hawk near Great 
Egg Harbour, on which he had begun to regale himself, and 
had already ate a considerable portion of it ; the remainder 
weighed six pounds. Another Fish Hawk was passing Mr 
Beasley’s, at the same place, with a large flounder in his grasp, 
which struggled and shook him so, that he dropt it on the 
shore. The flounder was picked up, and served the whole 
family for dinner. It is singular that the Hawk never descends 
to pick up a fish which he happens to drop, either on the land 
or on the water. There is a kind of abstemious dignity in 
this habit of the Hawk, superior to the gluttonous voracity 
displayed by most other birds of prey, particularly by the Bald 
Eagle, whose piratical robberies committed on the present 
species, have been already fully detailed in treating of his 
history. The Hawk, however, in his fishing pursuits, some- 
times mistakes his mark, or overrates his strength, by striking 
fish too large and powerful for him to manage, by whom he is 
