am indebted to the kindness of the Earl of Malmesbury,
and the figure of the bird here given is represented with a
grey mullet under his foot. The Rev. Gilbert White, in
his Natural History of Selborne, has also mentioned one
that was killed at Frinsham Pond,—a large piece of water
about six miles from Selborne. This bird was shot while:
sitting on the handle of a plough devouring a fish it had
caught. Montagu considered that the Osprey was frequent
in Devonshire. Dr. Edward Moore, in his Birds of Devonshire,
mentions five or six recent instances of its occurrence ;
and Mr. Couch sends me word that this species is believed
to breed every year on the rocks about the Lizard. Of the
more inland counties, specimens have been killed in Hertfordshire,
Oxfordshire, and Shropshire. In Ireland, the Osprey
has been seen by several naturalists about the Lake of
Killamey.
It has been already observed that the Osprey is common
in North America, where it has an extensive range. Pennant,
in his Arctic Zoology, says that it is found in Siberia
and Kampschatka. In high northern latitudes it is migratory,
retiring before the appearance of frost. I t inhabits
Scandinavia and Russia. In Europe, south of Russia,
it is found in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and the
southern provinces : it is found also in Tripoli and Egypt.
M. Temminck, in the third part of his Manual, says
that specimens of the Osprey from the Cape of Good
Hope, and others from Japan, are similar to those killed in
Europe; and Sir William Jardine possesses one from New
Holland which is in no way different. The geographical
range of this species is therefore most extensive.
The Osprey measures about twenty-two inches in length.
The beak is black, the cere blue, the irides yellow ; the top
of the head and nape of the neck whitish, streaked with dark
brown, the feathers elongated. The whole of the Upper surface
of the body and wings dark brown ; the ends of the wing-
primaries black ; the upper surface of the feathers of the tail
waved with two shades of brown ; the chin and throat white ;
across the upper part of the breast a few feathers tinged with
light brown, forming a band. The under surface of the body,
the thighs, and under tail-coverts, white; under surface of
the wing white at the axilla, brown on the outer edge ; under
surface of the wing-primaries dark brown, the shafts white;
under surface of the tail-feathers barred with greyish brown
on a white ground: the legs and toes blue ; the tarsi reticulated
; the toes partly reticulated, but with a few broad scales
near the end ; under surface of the toes covered with short,
sharp spines, admirably adapted for holding a smooth and
slippery prey: claws long, all of nearly uniform length,
crooked, forming one-third of a circle, sharp, and solid,—
that is, not grooved underneath; their colour black.
The vignette below represents a Hawk’s hood.