Queer Compact of Osprey and Eagle

1916

WHY FISH HAWK FEEDS KING OF THE AIR.

Bird of Freedom Watches Fisher's Nest While It Dives for Prey for Both.

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania. — Everybody who summers on the Jersey coast has seen the fish hawk at work, tho of late years the number of such birds seems to be decreasing.

The negroes down in Charles County, Maryland, in that faraway region of Rock Point, on the lower Potomac where the river broadens out like a sea and where the fish hawk is common, have a story about it and the eagle which is interesting. While the fish hawk, or osprey, dives into the water for its food, which consists of fish and eels, the eagle is a "landlubber" and would starve is he had to undertake a livelihood by braving the watery depths.

The story that has its place in the folklore of the "Black Belt" of Maryland is that one day the eagle was very hungry and meeting the fish hawk as he was flying home with a fine fat fish in his claws, said:

"Mr. Fish Hawk, you and I might as well be friends and join together and work for our mutual advantage."

"I am willing," said the fish hawk, soaring along with the eagle by his side, but keeping a tighter grip on the fish.

Fish Hawk Feeds Eagle.

"As you agree with me, I'll tell you what we can do," said the eagle. "If you will catch all the fish you can and give me half of what you get, I'll keep watch in the old pine tree next to your nest and protect your wife and children from the sparrow hawks and your other enemies while you are at work fishing."

"All right," said the fish hawk, "I will do it."

From that day on, the story goes, the fish hawk has fed the eagle. He does this in an odd and interesting manner. His eyes are very keen and he can see to a considerable depth in the water, and as he skims along over the surface of the deep he picks out the fat fish he wants. Quick as lightning he plunges down, extends his claws, and in the next instant rises with the wriggling prey in his talons. After taking a firmer hold on his victim he ascends by a spiral flight into the heavens. The eagle has been watching from a tall tree or crag, and, as the fish hawk rises, the eagle also darts into the sky above him. This is notice for all the fish hawk's enemies among the feathered tribe to retreat.

"Throw and Catch" in Air.

Just as the fish hawk gets to a point on a plane that is level with that of the eagle, he relaxes his grip on the fish and it begins to fall. It is then the eagle's time for quick action. Like a shot from a rapid-fire gun he dives and in a second or two has the fish in his claws.

The aerial "throw and catch" game between the two great birds goes on continually over the broad waters of the Potomac, much to the edification of the onlookers. Of course there must be times when the eagle fails to catch the fish as he swoops down thru the air after it, but it cannot be proved by any one who has witnessed this particular aerial feat on the part of the "bird of freedom." Nobody seems to have ever seen the eagle miss and nobody seems to have ever known the fish hawk to fail to catch a fish when he dived for it.

As the fish hawk rises in the air oftentimes, especially on a sunny day, the sheen of the fish can be seen like a piece of silver in his claws, and sometimes the "silver" can he seen wriggling, impressing one strangely as his eyes witness this tragedy in the air in which the victim can have no hope of rescue.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.