The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-02

beach with a recently drowned lsh-hawk
TO its back
Ferhaps ii adds little 10 the fshh lwk's
NisHlty 10 Know that he is nothing more
nor less than the. osprey whose aIrnos
sotai disappearance from British water
y so much iamented by many Englisr
"Il'ers' hlnSsiey wrote years ago that no
only few were then TO be found in som
remote places on the Scottish coast. tn
secret OF their abode being jealousy
suarue1 by those who knew it and their
e6Ss pelhS highly priced as 2 eat raritis.
ny EhSllsh collectors The reason OF thei
practeal extinction in Great Britain i
'ndt there for many years neither supe.
sutton nor the law protected them as bot
nave long done on the Jersey coasi. Their
are many OF them on the Australia
coast apd the Australian. British an.
american species are all practically id, n
tCdl IN the American species the f
male Is rather longer than the male wit.
a hVe-foot spread of wing to support a
BODY which, feathers and all. measure
ABOUT two feet in length. The feathets ar
Oily ana closely set, especially on III
under side of the body, like those of gees
or ducks. But even this does not p-even
the bird sometimes, after prolonged
struggle beneath the surface. from bein-
100 much water-logsed to be able to raise
ltself In flight and fishermen now and
men ind them floating thus helpless Y
upon the water until they get dry enoug
TO llft themselves aloft.
Plum Island, Conn, is a great breedin
place Tor fishhawks 1t is a barren pla .
with few trees and the hawks there often
make their nests on the ground and lay
thclr eggs in the sand. Some Of these nest
thus built up are of great size, struc-
lures from five 20 seven feet above III.
ground and measuring from six to eight
feet across the top He is a very gentle
sociable bird, the fishhawk and makes no
protest when smaller bTls intrude upon
his domestic privacy. Indeed. crow
blackhirds and other smaller fea hered fry
frequently make nests of the.r. oWn@and
raise their young right within the hi X
twicg walls of the massive nest of the
tishhawk. He never bothers them uule--
they NEEDLE with his young and when thai
is done there is no beast bird OF mao
whom the fishhawk will not night 70 a
finish.
But conciliatOry and inoffensive as the
fshhawk is in disposition. he has his en-
emies. The impudent, shrewsh little king
bird is one of these.
He viii light on the fshhawk's back
in full fight and scream insults in his
ears and make vicious jabs with sharp bill
at his eyes until the hawk is forced 10
take a plunge into the wafer to get ria
of him.
And though the fishhawk IS himself a
sort of cousin to the eagle, the re alton
ship does not bar a deadly enmity between
the two. There is now and then an eagle
about the Atlantic Highlands and the
fshhawks there will instantly drop the
best fish they ever sank a talon in if they
see one of the proud birds of freedom MAX
ing for them. The scientific description. of
the American osprey is as follows: BE
longs to the same sub-famly with the
eagle, is characterized by short bill
curved from the base to the acute hooked
tip. compressed laterally with slightly fes-
TONED margins; wings extending to tip
of tail. the second and third quilts equal
and longest; tail moderate and rather
even general form heavier and less
adapted for rapid flight than that of the
eagles: tarsi short and strong, cover d
with small circular scales; toes very
rough beneath, long and united at the
base; claws long curved and sharp