The Osprey. 
253 > 
not of the worst sort. It hath not beene my hap hitherto to see 
anie of these foules, and partlie through mine owne negligence: but I 
heare that it hath one foot like an hawke to catch hold withall, and 
another resembling a goose wherewith to swim; but whether it be so,, 
or not so, I refer the further search and trial thereof to some other.”’ 
(. Holinslied , vol. i. p. 382.) 
The notion alluded to in the last paragraph was a 
laudable but unscientific attempt to explain how this 
bird performed the difficult feat of holding in a firm 
grasp such a slippery object as a live fish. Giraldus 
Cambrensis, 1187, is perhaps the first English authority 
for this assertion—that one foot of the osprey is spread 
open and armed with talons, while the other is close,, 
harmless, and only fit for swimming. The worthy 
ecclesiastic, who never loses an opportunity of improving 
the occasion, and can “ make a moral of the devil him¬ 
self,” utilizes thus ingeniously the osprey’s mode of 
fishing:— 
“ In like manner, the old enemy of mankind fixes liis keen eyes on 
us, however we may try to conceal ourselves in the troublesome waves 
of this present world; and ingratiating himself with us by temporal 
prosperity, which may be compared to the peaceable foot, the cruel 
spoiler then puts forth his ravenous claws to clutch miserable souls 
and drag them to perdition.” (Topography of Ireland , p. 38, ed.. 
Wright, 1863.) 
“ Amongst the thickest of these several fowl 
With open eyes still sat the broad fac’d Owl.” 0wl ' 
(Dbayton, Noah's Flood.) 
If to “give a dog a bad name and you may as well 
hang him ” were literally true, the poor owl would have 
long ago ceased to exist, for never was any bird so 
maligned. 
Mr. Harting has given many illustrations from 
Shakspeare, and has written fully of the various traditions 
which refer to the owl; little, therefore, is left to add. 
In the beautiful lament of Eglamour for his lost Earine , 
