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Osprey; Fish Hawk

The Osprey is probably the most widely distributed of all birds; it is found at the proper season in nearly every country on the globe. It is a very inoffensive bird, living exclusively upon a fish diet. While essentially a salt water bird it is often found about the larger lakes, especially during migrations.

Ospreys are strongly protected both by law and public sentiment in most places where they are common and breed but as soon as they wander from their regular abiding places they put their lives in jeopardy for uneducated farmers consider all large birds as "hen-hawks" and certain classes of hunters take a shot at everything of size that comes within range.

The same birds return to the same breeding grounds, and to the same nests, each year. The nests are normally placed among the upper branches of dead trees; they are large structures when first built and, as they are used and added to each succeeding year, they soon become very bulky; I have seen a number that would more than fill an ordinary tip-cart. Osprey eggs are usually regarded as the most beautifully marked of all hawks, a rich, creamy ground color, covered with bright blotches of reddish-brown and umber.