drive off from the premises all the hawks,
buzzards, and kites, that would otherwise prey upon the poultry. With
such protection, therefore, the osprey is one of the securest birds in
America. He may breed in a tree over the farmer's or fisherman's door
without the slightest danger of being disturbed in his incubation. I
say _his_ incubation; but the male takes no part in this domestic duty,
further than to supply his loved mate with plenty of fish while she does
the hatching business. Of course, thus protected, the osprey is not a
rare bird. On the contrary, fish-hawks are more numerous than perhaps
any other species of the hawk tribe. Twenty or thirty nests may be seen
near each other in the same piece of woods, and as many as three hundred
have been counted on one little island. The nests are built upon large
trees--not always at the tops, as those of rooks, but often in forks
within twenty feet of the ground. They are composed of large sticks,
with stalks of corn, weeds, pieces of wet turf, and then lined
plentifully with dry sea-grass, or any other grass that may be most
convenient. The whole nest is big enough to make a load for a cart, and
would be heavy enough to give any horse a good pull. It can be seen,
when the woods are open, to an immense distance, and the more easily, as
the tree upon which it is built is always a "dead wood," and therefore
without leaves to conceal it. Some say that the birds select a dead or
decaying tree for their nest. It is more probable such is the effect,
and not the cause, of their building upon a particular tree. It is more
likely that the tree is killed partly by the mass of rubbish thus piled
upon it, and partly by the nature of the substances, such as sea-weed in
the nest, the oil of the fish, the excrement of the birds themselves,
and the dead fish that have been dropped about the root, and suffered to
remain there; for when the osprey lets fall his finny prey, which he
often does, he never condescends to pick it up again, but goes in search
of another. Boys "a-nesting" might easily discover the nest of the
osprey; but were they inclined to despoil it of its three or four eggs
(which are about the size of a duck's, and blotched with Spanish brown),
they would find that a less easy task, for the owners would be very
likely to claw their eyes out, or else scratch the tender skin from
their beardless cheeks: so that boys do not often trouble the nest of
the osprey.