62 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



an imitation of its note. We also heard a note from the male that 

 sounded like nyee-ee-ee-ee-ee, a long-drawn-out, shrill scream, some- 

 what suggesting the cry of the broad-winged hawk. While both birds 

 were flying about the clifF, we heard a variety of shrill, whining, nasal 

 notes, suggested by the syllables wauk-wauk, or yaak-yaak-yaak, or 

 quack-quaack-queck-quec-quec-quec-quec, the first two or three notes in 

 the last series being somewhat drawn out, with a nasal twang, and the 

 last four or five much more rapidly given and shriller. The note is 

 said to be like that of the sparrow hawk, but louder and more intense, 

 or like that of the kestrel, but stronger and in a deeper key. It also 

 has a hissing menace, like that of the owls; and the notes of the female 

 are said to be hoarser than those of the male. 



Mr. Hagar has contributed the following descriptions: 



"An observer who knew the duck hawk only on migration would 

 certainly call it a very silent bird, but during the breeding season it is 

 an exceedingly noisy one. The notes are varied and expressive, so 

 that it is frequently possible to know what goes on about the nesting 

 cliff when the falcons are out of sight, yet it will be found that there 

 are only three principal calls, of which all the rest are but variations. 



"The first of these, which is a note of anger or protest, is a loud, 

 harsh cack-cack-cack-cack-cack given in bursts of varying length with 

 the most monotonous regularity for minutes on end when intruders 

 are in the neighborhood of the nest. The tone is different in the two 

 sexes, the voice of the male being more wheezy and high-pitched, that 

 of the female grating and coarser. The sound suggests a giant 

 watchman's rattle twirled rather slowly. In the case of birds that are 

 bold and thoroughly aroused, and therefore plunging close to the 

 visitor, it is very wearing and disagreeable, so that after a few minutes 

 there arises an almost irresistible desire to get away from it. When 

 directed at another hawk, either a visiting peregrine or one of the 

 larger Buteos or eagles, its intensely angry quality is often somewhat 

 amusing. 



"The second is a note of courtship and conversation, used when the 

 male is calling his mate to a desirable nest site, or when they are 

 together on a shelf; presumably it is a pleasing sound to duck hawks, 

 however unmusical to human ears. I have usually represented it in 

 my notes by the word wi'-chew, wi'-chew (or wee' chew), with the first 

 syllable lengthened and heavily accented. Occasionally it is as 

 smooth as the similar note of the flicker, although louder; but typically 

 it is rougher and creakier than a grackle's song, or a very rusty hinge. 

 It is the most variable of the three notes, either persuasive, amorously 

 excited, or talkative, as the occasion requires. 



"The third is a recognition or location call given when two birds 

 of a pair are separated; a clear, high slightly ascending, wailing note 

 that falls upon the ear and fades away again so gently that neither 



