. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. wholly available. The invaria- ble result is that the hawks, for at least three weeks after their arrival from the South, hunt almost exclusively in fresh water — chiefly ponds, where golden carp, German carp, and perch are taken. The first named of these three is most often secured, probably because of his orange - yellow color, which renders him more con- spicuous in the muddy waters after the spring freshets. The fish-hawk's manner of securing his prey is highly spec- tacular. If hunting over a pond he drifts along the lee s
. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. wholly available. The invaria- ble result is that the hawks, for at least three weeks after their arrival from the South, hunt almost exclusively in fresh water — chiefly ponds, where golden carp, German carp, and perch are taken. The first named of these three is most often secured, probably because of his orange - yellow color, which renders him more con- spicuous in the muddy waters after the spring freshets. The fish-hawk's manner of securing his prey is highly spec- tacular. If hunting over a pond he drifts along the lee shore a hundred feet or so above the surface of the water, facing into the wind and keep- ing his eyes fixed on the pond below. When a fish is sighted, the bird checks himself directly above the quarry on wings that beat horizontally, and should the prospects be good—if the fish is of proper size and at a suitable distance from the sur- face of the water—down goes the bird at reckless speed, with wings folded and talons wide open. There is a great splash as the hawk strikes the water and seizes the fish by the back. Year after year I longed to get an osprey at his fishing game on a photographic plate; but who could tell where a hawk might plunge, and how could one be close enough with a camera to catch the bird at it ? The matter was given much thought. It was at first planned to capture live goldfish and tether them out as bait, but the probable difficulty of securing them when wanted and of mak- ing them "stay put" was too great. So I went to my friend, Dwight Franklin, expert mod- eler in the American Museum of Natural History, and in- duced him to make for me an artificial goldfish, to measure lo or 12 inches in length. This. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Washington, D. C
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