Dimensions.
Length, from the tip of the bill to the end of
Inches. lines. the tail. . . . . 38 0
„ ’ of the tail 14 0
„ of the longest quill feather 22 0
,, of the bill, measured on its ridge . 3 6
„ „ from the angle
of the
mouth . . . .
3 6
- Inches. - Lines.
Length of the cere on the ridge of the bill 0 8
Distance between the eye and the nostril . • 1 9
Length of the tarsus . . . . 3 3
- „ hind daw in a straight line . 1 6
„ ditto,’ following its curvature 2 3
„ middle toe , 3 0
„ - daw . . . . 1 3
A young bird, measuring also thirty-eight inches in length, had a black bill, and
plumage mostly of a dull-brown, variegated with paler brown and some white.
Its tail was blackish-brown, slightly mottled with white. It is said that these
birds do not attain their perfect plumage, with a white head and tail, until they
reach their fourth year.
[6,] 3. Aquila (Pandion) Haiijeeta. The Osprey.
Ge n u s . Aquila. An t iq u o r u m . Sub-genus. Pandion. Sa v ig n y .
Osprey, var.-A. Carolina. Lath. Syn., i.,p. 46, sp. 26. I dem. Supply p. 13.
Osprey. P enn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 199, No. 91. Selby. Brit. Ora., i., p. 12, pi. 4.
Falco Haliffietus y L a t h . Ind., i., p. 18, sp. 30.
Aquila Haliseetus. Meyer. Tasch., i., p. 25.
Fish-hawk, or Osprey. (Falco Haluetus.') Wilson, v., p. 1, pi. 37.
Falco Haliaetus. B u o n a p . Syn., p. 26, No. 8.
Common Brown Fishing-eagle. H u d so n ’s Bay R e s id e n t s .
Eethin-neesew. Cb.e e I n d ia n s .
This active and industrious fisher is well known in the fur countries as a frequenter
of rapids and cascades during the summer season, particularly in rocky
districts, in whose clear waters it can more readily discern its prey. It arrives
in the months of March or April, and immediately commences building a new
nest or re-occupies its old one, which is almost invariably on a tree, and is composed
of long sticks, heaped on each other, and intermixed with large tufts of grass,
roots, and other wrack, collected from the shores of the lakes. The choice that
it makes of a breeding-place shows that it is not a distrustful bird, for it often
places its nest near frequented paths and on a tree of very easy ascent. Wilson
remarks that the purple grakles are permitted by this bird to build their nests
amongst the interstices of the sticks of which its own is framed, where they hatch
their young and live together in harmony. The same observation has been made
in the interior of the fur countries. The Osprey lays two or three eggs of a pale
cream-yellow colour,^ stained with blotches and spots of dull orange-brown. The
young are hatched early in June,; are upwards of two months old before they can
fly, and are fed by the parent birds even after they quit the nest. Both young
and old retire to the south in October. I did not ascertain the exact northern
limits of the range of this species; but during our coasting voyage along the
shores of the Arctic Sea we did not observe any kind of Eagle, and Hearne says
that none of them breed in the barren grounds north of Churchill. It seems less
capable of bearing cold than the Bald Eagle, as it quits the United States on the
approach of winter. Pennant informs us that it is very frequent in Kamtschatka,
and it is probably equally so on the Pacific coast of North America, thus extending
its range from the coast of Labrador quite across the continent.
It lives almost exclusively on fish, which it takes alive, being very rarely
observed to attack birds or quadrupeds, or to feed on carrion; Wilson remarks,
that it never even picks up a fish which it happens to drop either on land or water.
When looking out for its prey, it sails with great ease and elegance, in undulating
and curved lines, at a considerable altitude above the water, from whence it precipitates
itself upon its quarry and bears it off in its claws ; or it not unfrequently,
on the fish moving to too great a depth, stops suddenly in its descent, and hovers
for a few seconds in the air, like a kite or a kestril, suspending itself in the same
Spot by a quick flapping of its wings;(it then makes a second and, in general,
unerring dart upon its prey, or regains the former altitude by an elegant spiral
flight. It seizes the fish with its claws, sometimes scarcely appearing to dip its
feet in the water, and at other times plunging entirely under the surface with force
sufficient to throw up a considerable spray *. It emerges again, however, so
speedily as to render it evident that it does not attack fish swimming at any great
depTthh.e versatility of the outer toe of the Osprey, the strength, curvature, and
sharpness of its claws, and the roughness of the soles of its feet, are peculiarities
of structure adapted to the better securing its slippery prey; and the shortness
of its thigh feathers, unusual in the falcon tribe, is also evidently connected with its
fishing habits. So firm is its hold, that it is said not unfrequently to perish by
havino- the imprudence to fix its talons in a fish of such a size and strength as to
be capable of dragging it suddenly under water. The superior strength of the
• Pennant informs us that its violent descent is compared by the Italians to the fall of lead into the water; hence
they bestow on it the appellation of Auguista piumbina (leaden Eagle). “ We never heard this name used, during six
years’ residence in Italy, and the words are not Italian.” Sw.