FISH-HAWK OR OSPREY. 
79 
terior 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 
subsistence 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 Octo- 
ber, they leave New York and New Jersey, and migrate 
further south. This early period of departure is, in all 
probability, like their arrival towards the close of March, 
m wholly regulated by the coming and going of the shoals 
of fish on which they are accustomed to feed. # Their 
arrival in the spring is welcomed 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 neces- 
sary 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 sublimely picturesque 
flight, and remarkable employment, with the strong af- 
fection displayed towards his constant mate and long 
helpless young, and the wrongs he hourly suffers from 
the pirate Eagle, are circumstances sufficiently calcu- 
lated, 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 comparatively harmless life ; and 
* 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. 
