168 FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



with reddish brown and conspicuously tipped with buffy. Male : length 

 15.50-18.0!), wing 11.30-13.00, tail 6.00-7.50, bill .75-.80. Female : length 

 18-20, wing 13.00-14.75, taH 6.90-9.00, bill .85-1.00. 



Distribution. — America, north of Chili ; migratory in the northern part 

 of its range ; breeding locally throughout most of its United States range. 



Eggs. — Usually laid on bare ground or rock, on a ledge or crag, or 

 sometimes in hollows in trees or old nests of other hawks, generally 4, 

 creamy or yellowish white, overlaid with brown or brick red. 



Food. — Almost exclusively water birds. 



As the duck hawk lives mainly on waterfowl and shore birds it 

 follows them from the north on their migrations. Its flight is so 

 rapid that it easily overtakes the swift- winged ducks, and it is so 

 bold as to attack and kill birds twice its weight. It ranks next to 

 the goshawk as a fierce bird of prey. 



356a. Faleo peregrinus pealei Ridgw. Peale Falcon. 



Adults. — Like F. p. anatum, but head and upper ports uniform dark 

 slate blue ; barred on back of wings and tail ; chest marked with tear- 

 shaped blackish spots, and rest of under parts broadly barred with black- 

 ish. Young : under parts sooty black, streaked with buffy or buffy white ; 

 upper parts with only faint traces of rusty feather margins. Male : wing 

 12.95, tail 0.75, bill .*84. Female : wing 14.66, tail 7.84, bill .96. 



Eemarks. — The adult Peale falcon can be distinguished from the duck 

 hawk by the uniform coloration of head and back, and the young by the 

 black under parts. 



Distribution. — Pacific coast region of North America from Oregon 

 north to the Aleutian and west to the Commander Islands, breeding 

 throughout its range. 



Nest. — On ledges of high cliffs. 



The Peale falcon is said to live largely on auklets and murrelets in 



Alaska. 



Subgenus .ffi salon. 



Tarsus scarcely feathered above, longer than middle toe without claw. 



357. Falco columbarius Linn. Pigeon Hawk. 



Middle tail feathers crossed by not more than four blackish or five 

 lighter bands. Adult male: under parts heavily 

 striped on whitish, buffy, or rusty ground, strip- 

 ing lightest or wanting on throat ; upper parts 

 bluish gray, with black shaft streaks, hind neck 

 mixed with whitish, buffy, or yellowish brown ; 

 wing quills blackish, inner webs distinctly barred 

 or spotted. Adult female : upper parts brownish, 

 top and sides of head streaked with blackish ; 

 under parts whitish or buffy, without rusty tinge. 

 Young : like female but darker, or tinged with 

 rusty or yellowish brown above, and whitish or 

 buffv below. Male: length 10-11, wing 7.40-7.80, 

 tail 4.65-5.20. bill .4S-.50. Female : length 12.50- 

 13.25, wing 8.35-8.60, tail 5.30-5.50, bill .55-60. 

 Remarks. — In the field the pigeon hawk might 

 ., r. , , c ^. be mistaken for the voung sharp-shinned, but 



trom Biological Survey, L. ,., , ,. . •'• i i i j^\' j. •^ .i . r 



s. Dept. of Agriciiiturf. Can readily be distinguished by the tail, that ot 

 Fig. 236. the sharp-shin being grayish brown, with half inch 



