Soon as the sun, great ruler of the year, The long-housed fisherman beholds with joy, THE FISHERMAN'S HYMN. The osprey sails above the sound, The geese are gone, the gulls are flying; Raise high the song, and cheerly wish her, "God bless the fish-hawk and the fisher!" She brings us fish-she brings us spring, Sheepshead and drum, and old-wives' dainty. "God bless the fish-hawk and the fisher!" She rears her young on yonder tree, And, plunging, shews us where to find 'em. "God bless the fish-hawk and the fisher!" SUBGENUS IV.-FALCO BECHSTEIN. 7. FALCO PERregrinus, wiLSON.-GREAT FOOTED HAWK, OR WILSON, PLATE LXXVI.-EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. THIS noble bird had excited our curiosity for a long time. Every visit which we made to the coast, was rendered doubly interesting by the wonderful stories which we heard of its exploits in fowling, and of its daring enterprize. There was not a gunner along the shore but knew it well; and each could relate something of it which bordered on the marvellous. It was described as darting with the rapidity of an arrow on the ducks when on the wing, and striking them down with the projecting bone of its breast. Even the wild geese were said to be in danger from its attacks, it having been known to sacrifice them to its rapacity. To behold this hero, the terror of the wild fowl, and the wonder of the sportsman, was the chief object of our wishes. Day after day did we traverse the salt marshes, and explore the ponds and estuaries which the web-footed tribes frequent in immense multitudes, in the hope of obtaining the imperial depredator; even all the gunners of the district were summoned to our aid, with the assurance of a great reward if they procured him, but without success. At length, in the month of December, 1812, to the unspeakable joy of Mr Wilson, he received from Egg Harbour a fine specimen of the far famed duck hawk; which was discovered, contrary to his expectations, to be of a species which he had never before beheld. If we were to repeat all the anecdotes which have It is also a European species. been related to us of the achievements of the duck hawk, they would swell our pages at the expense, probably, of our reputation. Naturalists should be always on their guard when they find themselves compelled to resort to the observations of others, and record nothing as fact which has not been submitted to the temperate deliberations of reason. The reverse of this procedure has been a principal cause why errors and absurdities have so frequently deformed the pages of works of science, which, like a plane mirror, ought to reflect only the genuine images of nature. From the best sources of information, we learn that this species is uncommonly bold and powerful; that it darts on its prey with astonishing velocity; and that it strikes with its formidable feet, permitting the duck to fall previously to securing it. The circumstance of the hawk's never carrying the duck off on striking it, has given rise to the belief of that service being performed by means of the breast, which vulgar opinion has armed with a projecting bone, adapted to the purpose. But this cannot be the fact, as the breast-bone of this bird does not differ from that of others of the same tribe, which would not admit of so violent a concussion. When the water fowl perceive the approach of their enemy, a universal alarm pervades their ranks; even man himself, with his engine of destruction, is not more terrible. But the effect is different. When the latter is beheld, the whole atmosphere is enlivened with the whistling of wings; when the former is recognized, not a duck is to be seen in the air: they all speed to the water, and there remain until the hawk has passed them, diving the moment he comes near them. It is worthy of remark, that he will seldom, if ever, strike over the water, unless it be frozen; well knowing that it will be difficult to secure his quarry. This is something more than instinct. When the sportsmen perceive the hawk knock down a duck, they frequently disappoint him of it, by being first to secure it. And as one evil turn, according to the maxim of the multitude, deserves another, our hero takes ample revenge on them, at every opportunity, by robbing them of their game, the hard-earned fruits of their labour. The duck hawk, it is said, often follows the steps of the gunner, knowing that the ducks will be aroused on the wing, which will afford it an almost certain chance of success. We have been informed, that those ducks which are struck down, have their backs lacerated from the rump to the neck. If this be the fact, it is a proof that the hawk employs only its talons, which are long and stout, in the operation. One respectable inhabitant of Cape May told us, that he has seen the hawk strike from below. This species has been long known in Europe; and in the age of falconry, was greatly valued for those qualifications which rendered it estimable to the lovers and followers of that princely amusement. But we have strong objections to its specific appellation. The epithet peregrine is certainly not applicable to our hawk, which is not migratory, as far as our most diligent inquiries can ascertain; and, as additional evidence of the fact, we ourselves have seen it prowling near the coast of New Jersey, in the month of May, and heard its screams, which resemble somewhat those of the bald eagle, in the swamps wherein it is said to breed. We have therefore taken the liberty of changing its English name for one which will at once express a characteristic designation, or which will indicate the species without the labour of investigation.* "This species," says Pennant, " breeds on the rocks of Llandidno, in Carnarvonshire, Wales. + That promontory has been long famed for producing a generous "Specific names, to be perfect, ought to express some peculiarity, common to no other of the genus.' Am. Orn. i. p. 65. + We suspect that Pennant is mistaken; its name denotes that it is not indigenous in Great Britain. Bewick says, "The peregrine, or passenger falcon, is rarely met with in Britain, and consequently is but little known with us." British Birds, part i. p. 71. kind, as appears by a letter extant in Gloddaeth library, from the lord treasurer Burleigh, to an ancestor of Sir Roger Mostyn, in which his lordship thanks him for a present of a fine cast of hawks, taken on those rocks, which belong to the family. They are also very common in the north of Scotland; and are sometimes trained for falconry, by some few gentlemen who still take delight in this amusement, in that part of Great Britain. Their flight is amazingly rapid; one that was reclaimed by a gentleman in the shire of Angus, a county on the east side of Scotland, eloped from its master with two heavy bells attached to each foot, on the 24th of September, 1772, and was killed in the morning of the 26th, near Mostyn, Flintshire."* The same naturalist in another place observes, that "the American species is larger than the European.+ They are subject to vary. The black falcon, and the spotted falcon of Edwards, are of this kind; each preserves a specific mark, in the black stroke which drops from beneath the eyes, down towards the neck. "Inhabits different parts of North America, from Hudson's Bay, as low as Carolina; in Asia, is found on the highest parts of the Uralian and Siberian chain; wanders in summer to the very Arctic circle; is common in Kamtschatka."‡ In the breeding season, the duck hawk retires to the recesses of the gloomy cedar swamps, on the tall trees of which it constructs its nest, and rears its young secure from all molestation. In those wilds which present obstacles almost insuperable to the foot of man, the screams of this bird, occasionally mingled with the hoarse tones of the heron, and the hooting of the great horned owl, echoing through the dreary solitude, arouse in the imagination all the frightful imagery of desola British Zoology. + If we were to adopt the mode of philosophizing of the sapient Count de Buffon, we should infer that the European species is a variety of our more generous race, degenerated by the influence of food and climate! + Arctic Zoology. |