Bill short, curved from the base, hooked, compressed; wings very long;
tarsi short, very thick and strong, and covered with small circular
scales; claws large, curved very sharp; tail moderate. Contains about
three or four species nearly allied, inhabiting various parts of the
world.
1. Pandion carolinensis. (Gen.) The Fish Hawk. The Osprey.
Falco carolinensis. Gm., Syst. Nat., I. 263. (1788.)
Aquila piscatrix. Vieill., Ois. d’Am. Sept., I. p. 29. (1807.)
Pandion americanus. Vieill., Gal., I. p. 33. (1825.)
Vieill., Ois. d’Am. Sept., I. pl. 4; Cat. Car., I. pl. 2; Wilson, Am.
Orn., V. pl. 37; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 81; oct. ed., I. pl. 15; Nat.
Hist. N. Y. Birds, pl. 8, fig. 18.
Legs, feet and claws very strong. Adult. Head and entire under-parts
white; wide stripe through the eye downwards, longitudinal stripe on
the top of the head and occiput and entire upper parts of the body,
wings and tail, deep umber-brown, generally with the feathers more or
less edged with lighter brown; tail with about eight bands of
blackish-brown, and with the greater parts of the inner-webs of its
feathers white; breast with numerous cordate and circular spots of
pale yellowish-brown; bill and claws bluish-black; tarsi and toes
greenish-yellow. Young. Similar to the adult, but with the upper
plumage edged and tipped with pale-brownish, nearly white.
Dimensions. _Female_—total length (of skin), about 25 inches; wing,
21½; tail, 10½ inches. _Male_—smaller.
Hab. Throughout North America; Texas (Woodhouse); Oregon (U. S. Ex.
Exp. Vincennes). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. The American Osprey is very similar to that of the old continent
(_P. haliaetus_), and specimens from Western America even more
intimately resemble it. It is, however, larger, and retains in all the
specimens that we have seen, differently-formed spots on the breast,
being heart-shaped and circular, instead of narrow and lanceolate, as in
the. European species. The Fish Hawk is abundant on the sea-coasts of
the United States, and is one of the few rapacious birds of this country
which are not molested.