OSPREY (from OF. orfraie. from Lat. ossi fragus, osprey, bone-breaker, from os, bone + frangere, to break), or Fisu-HAwK. An accipi trine bird, which represents the genus Pandion and family Pandionida, and differs from the ordinary falcons in the reversible, owl-like outer toe, the lack of an aftershaft to the feathers, the long, closely feathered tibias and other struc tural details, and in its habit of feeding exclu sively on live fish, caught from the water. The osprey is cosmopolitan, except in some oceanic islands, but is everywhere local, as it is not able to live far from the shores of bodies of water or large rivers. The typical form is that of the Old World (Pandion halietus). of which the American fish-hawk and an Australian 'fishing eagle' are regarded as geographical races.
Our American fish-hawk is about two feet long. It is of a dark-brown color, variegated with white, gray, and black; the under parts are white except a light brown band across the breast. The bill is short, strong, broad, and very strongly hooked. The tail is rather long and the wings are 'very long. The soles of the feet are very rough and covered with small pointed scales which enable it to secure a firmer hold on its slippery prey, which it seizes with its talons alone and hears away to its nest or to a perch. It is often robbed of its gains by the bald eagle, which loves fish, but is unskillful in catching them.
The nest of the fish-hawk is a huge, stick-built affair (a load for a cart) placed on a sea-front ing cliff or in a tree—in the 'United States usu ally the latter; and the same structure may be repaired and reoccupied for many seasons. In favorable places colonies of fish-hawks may nest in company: and they have occasionally nested upon platforms placed upon tall poles for their accommodation. Another feature of interest is that other birds—notahly the American grakles —often build their nests in the outer interstices of the osprey's rough structure, and dwell there undisturbed. The eggs (two to four) are white, blotched with claret-brown, purplish, and ochre. Excellent accounts of the fish-hawk are given in the books of Wilson, Nuttall, Audubon, and other of the older ornithologists, as well as in modern treatises on birds. See Plate of EAGLES AND HAWKS.
OSSA (Lat., from Gk. 'Oeea). The ancient name of a mountain in Northeastern Thessaly, separated from Olympus by the vale of Tempe.
It is now called Kissavos. The conical summit is 6398 feet high. According to Homer, the young giants, Otus and Ephialtes, planned to pile Ossa on Olympus and felon on Ossa in order to reach heaven.