Duck-Hawk 187 



Duck- Hawk. Falco peregrinus anatum. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 356a — Colorado Records — Allen. 72, pp. 152, 158 ; 

 Drew 85, p, 17; Morrison 89, p. 65; Kellogg 90, p. 90 ; Cooke 97, 

 pp. 18, 76, 160 ; Henderson 03, p. 235 ; 09, p. 229. 



Description.— Female — Above slaty-blue, varying from dark to light ; 

 most of the feathers with paler edges ; the dark slate extends below 

 the eye, forming a moustache patch ; primaries marked on the inner 

 web with pale reddish or tawny bands ; tail barred dusky and silvery 

 grey, and tipped with whitish ; below pale tawny-rufous, posteriorly 

 from the breast closely and regularly barred with dusky ; iris brown, 

 bill bluish-horn, base and cere yellowish, feet yellow. Length 18 ; 

 wing 13*7 ; tail 7 ; culmen 1"1. ; tarsus 2'2. 



The male is smaller — wing 12-5, tail 6-5. A young bird is blackish 

 above and has most of the feathers edged with tawny-rufous, darker 

 than the adult, and streaked, not barred, with dusky. 



Distribution. — The greater part of the New World, from Alaska and 

 Labrador south to ChiU and the Argentine. 



In Colorado the Duck-Hawk can hardly be called common, though 

 it is not infrequently met with in suitable localities. It is placed by 

 Cooke among the residents, but I have not found any definite winter 

 record for it, and it is certainly chiefly met with during the summer 

 months. It is not recorded from the western or southern districts 

 of the State, though there is no reason why it should not be found 

 there. The following are localities : Loveland, arriving March 29th 

 (W. G. Smith), Estes Park, rare (Kellogg), Boulder co. (Gale & 

 Henderson), Fairplay (Allen), Garden of the Gods, near Manitou 

 breeding (Aiken), St. Charles Canon, near Pueblo, breeding (Lowe 

 apud Cooke). 



Habits. — ^The Duck-Hawk is hardly to be distinguished 

 from the Peregrine Falcon of the Old World, which 

 was formerly esteemed the noblest of its kind. Its 

 flight is marvellously rapid, and it can overtake swift- 

 flying ducks with the greatest ease. It prefers timbered 

 lands along streams and cliffs and rocky places, where 

 it builds its nest. It preys almost exclusively on other 

 birds, especially watei-fowl, but Blackbirds and Doves 

 are sometimes taken, while destructive inroads are often 

 made on poultry and domestic ducks. In fact, it is 

 one of the few birds of prey in whose favour little can 

 be said. 



