88 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



plain brownish-dusky ; all the feathers, including coverts 

 and secondaries, edged with lighter; primaries, darker 

 dusky-brown tipped with lighter; tail, ashy, tipped with 

 pale yellowish-white and crossed with 4 or 5 very 

 narrow bars of light ash ; beneath, pale tawny or yellow- 

 ish-white marked lightly on breast, more heavily below, 

 with wedge-shaped longitudinal spots of deep brown; 

 bill, bluish-horn ; cere and feet, dull yellow ; claws, 

 black ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in crevices on 

 inaccessible cliffs, more rarely in natural cavities of 

 trees ; no apparent attempt at any construction. Eggs : 

 3 or 4, dull white, usually so heavily colored with spots, 



blotches, and specks of reddish or dark brown as to 

 obscure the ground color. 



Distribution. — North and South America ; breeds 

 locally (e-xcept in northwest coast region) from Nor- 

 ton Sound, Alaska, northern Mackenzie, Boothia Penin- 

 sula, and western central Greenland south to central 

 Lower California, Arizona, southwestern Te.xas, Kan- 

 sas, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Connecticut 

 (in mountains to South Carolina) ; winters from south- 

 ern British Columbia, Colorado, and New Jersey (occa- 

 sionally further north) to the West Indies and Panama; 

 occurs also in South America south to northern 

 Chile. 



The Peregrine Falcon (Falco pcrci/riniis pcrc- 

 ijriniis) of the Old World is the noble Falcon 

 of the days when hawking was the chief of 

 sports. Casually it is found in Greenland but 

 its best known American representative is the 

 Duck Hawk. The only difference between the 

 two birds is in the coloration of the throat and 

 upper breast ; in the Duck Hawk these are gen- 

 erally unmarked, but in the Peregrine they are 

 marked with blackish-brown. 



The quick wing beats resembling the flight of 

 a Pigeon are quite different from the flight of 



the majority of other Hawks and readily identify 

 the Duck Hawk in the field. Its strength and 

 bearing apjjeal to our primitive sense of admira- 

 tion for courage. \Miile such traits are admir- 

 able, others less commendable cannot be ignored. 

 The toll of life taken by the strong we accept as 

 part of the scheme of things but wanton destruc- 

 tion revolts us and a Duck Hawk is sometimes 

 so carried away by lust of slaughter that it will 

 strike bird after bird from a flock of Sandpipers 

 and leave the victims where they fall. 



After the young are reared the parents proceed 



DUCK HAWK (! nat. size) 

 A fierce destroyer but a splendid success as a bird 

 Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



