82 C. H. Merriam, — Birds of Connecticut. 



distant) were observed to be in an unusual state of commotion. The 

 Captain remarked that they had been agitated, the day previous, by 

 a Duck Hawk which might still be prowling in the vicinity, and he 

 kindly oiFered to take us over there. We landed, and, on rounding 

 the island, the Falcon suddenly started from her retreat among the 

 rocks and weeds, which, as we afterwards discovered, was strewn 

 with feathers. But the captain's gun was in readiness, and, through 

 his kindness, the bird now graces my collection. During her brief 

 visit she had made sad havoc among the Terns, and her crop was 

 greatly distended with their remains, which had been swallowed in 

 incredibly large pieces — whole legs, and the long bones of the wings 

 were found entire and unbroken ! Indeed she was perfectly gorged, 

 and contained the remains of at least two adult Terns, besides a mass 

 of newly hatched young ! The only other great-footed Hawk that 

 Capt. Brooks has ever taken, he killed, at this same place, twelve 

 years ago. Query : did this bird come from Talcott Mountain, or 

 did it breed far beyond our limits ? It is said that they are able to 

 fly many hours without resting, and at the enormous rate of an hun- 

 .dred miles per hour !* They sometimes live nearly 200 years ! 



In the Hartford Times of June 29th, 1861, Dr. Wm. Wood, of 

 East Windsor Hill, Conn., published the first account of the first 

 Duck Hawk's nest found in New England. It was discovered by 

 Dr. Moses, on Talcott Mountain, near Hartford, Conn,, May 25th, 

 1861, and contained four young almost large enough to fly. The 

 finding of this nest was, at the time, of particular interest, since, as 

 Dr. Wood remarked, " it settled beyond dispute three points : 1st, 

 that they breed on clifis ; 2d, that they breed in Connecticut ; and 

 3d, that they nest very early" (sometime in March). f 



They have since been known to breed regularly on Mount Tom, 

 Mass., where their eggs were first taken, April 19, 1864, by Mr. C. 

 W. Bennett,^ of Holyoke. Their nest was again robbed, by Mr, 

 Bennett, in 1866 and in 1869. Mr. J. A. Allen, in his "Notes on 

 some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts," writes : " During a visit 

 to this Mountain [Mt. Tom], in company with Mr. Bennett (Apr, 28, 

 1869), we had the great pleasure of discovering their second eyrie, 

 from which, with considerable difficulty, three freshly laid eggs were 

 obtained. Not discouraged by this second misfortune, they nested 



* See an interesting Article in Am. Nat., vol. v. No. 2, p. 82, April, 1871. 



+ Hartford Times, June 29, 1861. 



X See Proceed. Essex Inst., vol. iv, p. 153. 



