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Low says, that this species is found in all the head-lands, and other inaccessible rocks, of Orkney. "It is the falcon, or more noble species of hawk, which was formerly so much coveted, and brought from Orkney. In the Burgh of Birsa I observed the dark-coloured kind, so beautifully engraved in the additional volume of the British Zoology. It is likewise found in Marwick-head, Hoy, Walls, Copinsha, and elsewhere in Orkney; likewise in the Fair Isle and Foula; as also in Lamhoga of Fetlor, Fitful, and Sumburgh-Heads of Shetland.

"Never more than one pair of this species inhabit the same rock; and when the young are fit, they are driven out to seek new habitations for themselves. The Falcon's nest, like the Eagle's, is always in the very same spot, and continues so past memory of man.”*

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 hootings of the Great-horned Owl, echoing through the dreary solitude, arouse in the imagination all the frightful imagery of desolation. Wilson, and the writer of this article, explored two of these swamps, in the month of May, 1813, in pursuit of the Great Heron, and the subject of this chapter; and although they were successful in obtaining the former, yet the latter eluded their research.

The Great-footed Hawk is twenty inches in length, and three feet eight inches in breadth; the bill is inflated, short and strong, of a light blue colour, ending in black, the upper mandible with a tooth-like process, the lower with a corresponding notch, and truncate; nostrils round, with a central point like the pistil of a flower; the eyes are large, irides of a dark brown; cere

* Low's Natural History of the Quadrupeds, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, of Orkney and Shetland; published by William Elford Leach, M. D., 4to. 1813.

and orbits pale bluish white; the cartilage over the eyes prominent; frontlet whitish; the head above, cheeks and back, are black; the wings and scapulars are brownish black, each feather edged with paler, the former long and pointed, reaching almost to the end of the tail; the primaries and secondaries are marked transversely, on the inner vanes, with large oblong spots of ferruginous white; the exterior edge of the tip of the secondaries curiously scalloped, as if a piece had been cut out; the tertials incline to ash colour; the lining of the wings is beautifully barred with black and white, and tinged with ferruginous; on a close examination, the scapulars and tertials are found to be barred with faint ash; all the shafts are black; the rump and tail-coverts are light ash, marked with large dusky bars; the tail is rounding, black, tipped with reddish white, and crossed with eight narrow bars of very faint ash; the chin and breast, encircling the black mustaches, are of a pale buff colour; breast below, and lower parts, reddish buff, or pale cinnamon, handsomely marked with roundish or heart-shaped spots of black; sides broadly barred with black; the femorals are elegantly ornamented with herring-bones of black, on a buff ground; the vent is pale buff, marked as the femorals, though with less numerous spots; the feet and legs are of a dirty white, stained with yellow ochre, the legs short and stout, feathered a little below the knees, the bare part one inch in length; span of the foot five inches, with a large protuberant sole; middle toe as long as the tarsus; the claws are large and black, middle one three-quarters of an inch long, hind claw seven-eights of an inch.

The most striking characters of this species are the broad patch of black dropping below the eye, and the uncommonly large feet. It is stout, heavy, and firmly put together.

The bird from which the above description was taken, was shot in a cedar swamp, in Cape May county, New Jersey. It was a female, and contained the remains of small birds, among which were discovered the legs of the Sanderling. The figure

in the plate is an excellent resemblance of the original, which is handsomely set up in the Philadelphia Museum.

I am indebted to Mr. Titian Peale, for the view of an immature specimen of the Duck Hawk, which he shot near the Rocky Mountains; it was quite young, having just left the nest. Its colours were principally a dirty white, and a reddish brown; the patch below the eye not very conspicuous; but the characters of the bill and feet proved the species.

According to Temminck, the Peregrine Falcon never inhabits marshy countries; but this, I presume, is a mistake, as our bird is remarkable for its attachment to those places which are affected by the water fowl; and it is well known that the latter abound in all the marshes of the coast.

In the month of November, 1823, I procured a fine living specimen of the Duck Hawk, which I preserved, with the view of noting its change of plumage. It was a female, and was allowed the free range of a stable and garden. Notwithstanding my care, it lived but nine months. On dissection, I found her eggs very small, although she had every appearance of being an adult. Around the base of the heart, and near the ovaries, I discovered two or three round worms, of about nine inches in length.

During the time that she was in my possession she did not moult; and the change in the colour of the plumage was but slight. In winter, the upper parts were dark brown, but in the summer there was an appearance of ash colour on the back and wing-coverts. The fact, that the plumage of birds undergoes a change of colour, independent of moulting, appears to be now well ascertained; and it is with pleasure that I can add my testimony, on this subject, to the sensible "Remarks on the Changes of the Plumage of Birds," which were published in the twelfth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. The paper in question was written by the Rev. William Whitear.

My Duck Hawk never became sufficiently domesticated to permit me to handle her; and if an attempt were made to touch

her, she would either hop away in anger, or, if prevented from retreating, she would spring upon me, and strike, furiously, with one of her powerful feet, which were capable of inflicting severe wounds. Unless when very hungry, she would not touch cooked food; she preferred fresh-killed meat, especially tender beef and mutton, generally rejecting the fat. She was fond of small birds, but a live duck was her supreme delight: the sight of one would make her almost frantic; at such times, the vigour and activity of her movements, and the animation of her eye, were truly admirable. Her antipathy to cats was great, and when one of these animals approached her, she manifested her displeasure by raising her plumes, opening her mouth, and uttering some sounds, which were doubtless intended as a premonition of danger. If, regardless of all these, the cat got within striking distance, one blow from the Hawk was generally sufficient to compel the intruder to a hasty retreat.*

* From Mr. Ord's supplementary volume.

SPECIES 2. FALCO SPARVERIUS.

AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK.

[Plate XVI.-Fig. 1.-Female.]

Emerillon de St. Domingue, Buff. 1, 291. Pl. enl. 465.——Arct. Zool. 212.-Little Falcon, Latн. Syn. v. 1, p. 110, No. 94. Ib. 95.-PEALE's Museum, No. 389.

IN no department of ornithology has there been greater confusion, or more mistakes made, than among this class of birds of prey. The great difference of size between the male and female, the progressive variation of plumage to which, for several years, they are subject, and the difficulty of procuring a sufficient number of specimens for examination; all these causes conspire to lead the naturalist into almost unavoidable mistakes. For these reasons, and in order, if possible, to ascertain each species of this genus distinctly, I have determined, where any doubt or ambiguity prevails, to represent both male and female, as fair and perfect specimens of each may come into my possession. According to fashionable etiquette the honour of precedence, in the present instance, is given to the female of this species; both because she is the most courageous, the largest and handsomest of the two, best ascertained, and less subject to change of colour than the male, who will require some further examination and more observation, before we can venture to introduce him.

This bird is a constant resident in almost every part of the United States, particularly in the states north of Maryland. In the southern states there is a smaller species found, which is destitute of the black spots on the head; the legs are long and very slender, and the wings light blue. This has been supposed, by some, to be the male of the present species; but this is an error. The eye of the present species is dusky; that of the smaller species a brilliant orange; the former has the tail

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