FISH HAWK, OR OSPREY, 
115 
tail-feathers are whitish, barred with brown ; whole lower parts, 
pure white, except the thighs, which are covered with short 
plumage, and streaked down the fore part with pale brown ; 
the legs and feet are a very pale light blue, prodigiously strong 
and disproportionably large ; they are covered with flat scales 
of remarkable strength and thickness, resembling, when dry, 
the teeth of a large rasp, particularly on the soles, intended, 
no doubt, to enable the bird to seize with more security his 
slippery prey ; the thighs are long, the legs short, feathered a 
little below the knee, and, as well as the feet and claws, large ; 
the latter hooked into semicircles, black, and very sharp 
pointed ; the iris of the eye, a fiery yellow orange. 
The female is full two inches longer ; the upper part of the 
head, of a less pure white, and the brown streaks on the front 
spreading more over of the crown ; the throat and upper part 
of the breast are also dashed with large blotches of a pale 
brown, and the bar passing through the eye, not of so dark a 
brown. The toes of both are exceedingly strong and warty, 
and the hind claw a full inch and a quarter in diameter. The 
feathers on the neck and hind head are long and narrow, and 
generally erected when the bird is irritated, resembling those 
of the Eagle. The eye is destitute of the projecting bone 
common to most of the Falcon tribe ; the nostril, large, and of 
a curving triangular shape. On dissection, the two glands on 
the rump, which supply the bird with oil for lubricating its 
feathers to protect them from the wet, were found to be 
remarkably large, capable, when opened, of admitting the 
end of the finger, and contained a large quantity of white 
greasy matter, and some pure yellow oil ; the gall was in 
small quantity. The numerous convolutions and length of 
the intestines surprised me ; when carefully extended, they 
measured within an inch or two of nine feet, and were no 
thicker than those of a Robin ! The crop, or craw, was middle 
sized, and contained a nearly dissolved fish ; the stomach was 
a large oblong pouch, capable of considerable distension, and 
