14 NEW- YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



Color. Bill bluish ; darker at the tip. Summit of the head uniform dark brown. Space 

 round the eyes, legs and cere yellow. Iris hazel. Dark blackish brown above. Wings pale 

 ash. Tail-coverts plumbeous, with heart-shaped blackish brown marks. Tail barred alter- 

 nately with deep brown and slate, tipped with whitish. Chin and throat white unspotted ; 

 fore part of the breast with a few drop-shaped streaks. Transverse interrupted brown bars 

 on the flanks and belly. Thigh-feathers barred, or with arrow-head spots of brown. Under 

 tail-coverts with distant interrupted bars or spots. The black on the sides of the head ad- 

 vances on the cheek below the eyes, and forms a sort of notch or sinus on the sides of the 

 neck : this contrasts strongly with the white of the neck, and forms a very characteristic 

 specific mark. Female: Breast inclines more to buff; darker above. Young : Feathers 

 above edged with rusty ; beneath entirely white, with a central oblong brownish mark on 

 each feather. 



Length, 15-0-18-0. Alar extent, 30-0-44-0. 



I have followed Bonaparte in considering this species as distinct from its closely allied con- 

 gener, the Peregrine Falcon of Europe. It is frequently taken in various parts of the State, 

 and known under the various popular names of Hen Hawk, Chicken Hawk and Pigeon 

 Hawk. It is said to breed in Cedar swamp, New-Jersey, and perhaps in this State. It has 

 a wide geographical range, being found from 54° south to 74° north latitude. 



Its usual food consists of birds, which are struck on the wing. When falconry formed the 

 chief amusement of the princes and nobility of Europe, a species so closely allied to the Duck 

 Hawk as to have been hitherto confounded with it, was that chiefly employed. 



