“All the World's Birds”

BALBUZARD
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

“If we consider all the facts relating to this bird, we must conclude that, though it resembles the eagle more than any other bird of prey, it really constitutes a distinct genus. It is much smaller, and has neither the port, the figure, nor the flight of the eagle. Its natural habits are as different as its appetites; for it feeds chiefly on fish, which it catches in the water, and even several feet below the surface. And that this is its ordinary subsistence appears, because its flesh has a strong fishy flavour.” (I, p. 70–71)

© François-Nicolas Martinet, "All the World’s Birds: Buffon’s Illustrated Natural History General and Particular of Birds" by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Rizzoli New York, 2008