FALCONS 



89 



to exemplify the fitness of the name given them 

 by the scientists — falco, sickle, pcrcijrinus, 

 wandering, and aiuitiim, of the Dncks. They 

 seek maritime districts and change their diet 

 from Partridges, Pigeons, Flickers and the like 

 to shore birds and Ducks. 



The usual method pursued in obtaining its 

 prey is to rise in spirals until it is above the 

 victim and then to drop directly ujjon it ; seldom 

 is it unsuccessful. Sometimes it captures its 

 victims by direct chase or by a sudden assault. 

 That they do not always look carefully before 

 they strike was proved by one which passed over 

 me while I was concealed in a duck-blind, struck 

 one of the decoys, and knocked the head off. 

 This is not an unusual incident, declare baymen 

 who do a great deal of Duck shooting. 



Considering the peculiar advantages the Duck 



Hawk possesses in the struggle for existence, it 

 is remarkable how comparatively rare it is. 

 Among birds it has no superior. The inacces- 

 sible location of its nest prevents animal depre- 

 dations ; even a wild-cat would think twice before 

 attacking its home. The insatiable " egg-collec- 

 tor " is its worst enemy. U. 1. Brasher. 



Peak's l-'alcon {luilco pcrcyrinus pcalei) is 

 a duskier slate above than the Duck Hawk, its 

 crown is like its back, its breast is more heavily 

 spotted with blackish, and there are broad bars 

 of dusky on its under parts. This Black Hawk, 

 as it is also called, inhabits the Pacific coast 

 region from the Aleutian Islands to Oregon. It 

 breeds throughout its range and is accused, in 

 Alaska, of living largely on Auklets and Mur- 

 relets. 



PIGEON HAWK 

 Falco columbarius columbarius Liinucus 



\. O. U. Number 357 See Color Plate 52 



Other Names. — Pigeon Falcon ; American Merlin ; 

 Bulk-t Hawk : Little Blue Corporal. 



General Description. — Length ; male, 1 1 inches ; 

 female, 13 inches. Color above, dark brown ; below, 

 whitish. Two outer primaries notched on inner webs ; 

 tarsus but slightly feathered in front, broadly bare on 

 back, and longer than middle toe without claw ; not 

 more than 4 blackish or S light bands crossing the tail. 



Color. — Adults in Norm.-\l Plumage (as usually 

 seen) ; Above, dark umber-brown, interrupted on neck 

 by whitish streaks, most of feathers with paler edges and 

 dark shaft lines; primaries, blackish with lighter tips and 

 numerous oval transverse spots of cinnamon on inner 

 webs ; tail, umber-brown barred with about four narrow 

 light ocher bands and tipped with white ; beneath vary- 

 ing from dull white to a rich warm buff heavily streaked 

 longitudinally with dark umber-brown except on throat 

 which is distinctly whitish and marked only with fine 

 shaft streaks : sides of head, bufT finely penciled with 

 dark streaks merging into a mustache extending from 

 gape to bottom of throat ; forehead and spot in front 

 of eye. whitish; a dark line above and behind eye; 

 bill, bluish horn ; cere and feet, chrome yellow ; claws, 

 black ; iris, deep brown. Adult Male in Full Plum- 

 ace: Forehead, line over eye, lores, and throat, white; 

 crown, back, shoulders, rump, coverts, and secondaries, 

 fine purplish ash ; crown, streaked with black ; feathers of 

 back, shoulders, and coverts with a strong distinct black 

 shaft line; primary coverts barred with dusky; tail, 

 grayish-ash banded with two exposed bars of blackish 

 and a broad subterminal one of the same color tipped 



with white ; primaries, deep dusky edged with whitish 

 and with a number of transverse oval spots of whitish 

 on inner web ; the white line over eye continued to back 

 of neck; sides of head, neck all around, breast, and 

 under parts in general, a fine warm bufTy, streaked 

 narrowly on cheeks and sides of head, more strongly on 

 neck and beneath, with blackish ; the thigh feathers 

 merely with black shaft streaks; a narrow but distinct 

 dusky mustache ; bill, bluish-horn ; cere, skin around 

 eye, and feet, chrome-yellow ; claws, black ; iris, deep 

 brown. Young : Practically the same as normal plum- 

 age of adults, but birds of the year are usually lighter 

 with more tawny and wider ed,ges of feathers on upper 

 parts. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On ledges, in branches of 

 trees, or, occasionally, in a hollow tree ; the tree nests 

 constructed of sticks, weed stems, grass, or moss and 

 lined with feathers and strips of soft inner bark; the 

 ledge nests with very little material. Eggs : 4 or 5, 

 white, thinly spotted, evenly or wreathed around either 

 end, or so heavily splashed and blotched with rich 

 chestnut-brown as to obscure the ground color. 



Distribution. — North .'\merica to northern South 

 America ; breeds from northwestern Alaska and north- 

 western Mackenzie south in the mountains to California 

 and southern Oregon, and from central Keewatin, 

 northern Ungava, and Newfoundland south to northern 

 Michigan, central Ontario, and Maine ; winters from 

 California and the Gulf States (casually further north) 

 south through Mexico, Central America, and the West 

 Indies to Ecuador and Venezuela. 



