# The Fishhawk - Source: McGuffey's Second Reader (second-reader.gutenberg.org), Public domain, William Holmes McGuffey, 1879, via Project Gutenberg - Reading level: Grades 1 and 2 - Subjects: Animals - Topics: fish, eagle, catches, claws, fishhawk, flies - Length: 218 words, about 2 min - Original: - Page: - Open in Sprouts: THE FISHHAWK. - The fishhawk, or osprey, is not so large as the eagle; but he has, like the eagle, a hooked bill and sharp claws. - His color is a dark brown, with black and white spots, and his length is from twenty to twenty-two inches. His breast is mostly white. His tail and wings are long. - The fishhawk is often found sitting upon a tree over a pond, or lake, or river. He is also found by the seaside. - He watches the fish as they swim in the water beneath him; then he darts down suddenly and catches one of them. - When he catches a fish in his sharp, rough claws, he carries it off to eat, and, as he flies away with it for his dinner, an eagle sometimes meets him. - The eagle flies at him fiercely with his sharp bill and claws, and compels the hawk to drop the fish. - Then the eagle catches the fish as it falls, before it reaches the ground, and carries it off. - The poor fish hawk, with a loud cry, timidly flies away. He must go again to the water and catch another fish for his dinner. - Thus you see, that the eagle is a robber. He robs fishhawks, whose only mode of getting a living is by catching fish. ## Picture credits - illustrator not named in this edition, Public domain ()