FALCONID^ — THE FALCONS. 



205 



Habits. This Hawk appears to be confined to the extreme southern and 

 southwestern portion of the Gulf States. It is not knowni to occur farther 

 north than South Carolina on the Atlantic, though on the Mississippi it has 

 been traced much farther north. It is most abundant about the Mississippi. 

 It was first discovered by Wilson near Natchez, where he found it quite 

 abundant. Mr. Say afterwards observed it far up the Mississippi, at one of 

 Major Long's cantonments. On Captain Sitgreave's expedition to the Zuhi 

 and Colorado Elvers, it was found to be exceedingly abundant in Eastern 

 Texas, as well as in the Indian Territory, more particularly on the Arkansas 

 River and its tributaries. 



Dresser states that he found this 

 Hawk by no means an unfrequent bird 

 in Texas, and generally in the same lo- 

 calities with the NauderiLS forficatus. 

 It was not very common near San An- 

 tonio, but was occasionally found, and 

 even breeds there, as he procured both 

 the old and the young birds during the 



summer. In travelling eastward in the 

 month of May, he first noticed them 

 near the Ilio Colorado, and was told by 

 the negroes on one of the plantations 

 that they were then nesting. On the 

 20th of May he shot a female on the 

 banks of that river, from which he ex- 

 tracted a fully formed egg. It was al- 

 most round, and rather large for the lai^iamnsissiwien^s. 

 size of the bird. Eastward from the Colorado he also saw this Hawk quite 

 often. 



Though the species, no doubt, occurs in Mexico, Mr. Sclater states that all 

 the Mexican Ictinice which he has seen, collected by Salle, Boucard, and 

 others, have belonged to /. plumbea (Ibis, 1860, p. 104). A single specimen 

 from Coban, Central America, was obtained by Mr. Salvin, but /. i^lumhect 

 was by far the most common species of Ictinia in Vera Paz. 



This species was first discovered within the territory of tlie United States 

 by Wilson, in his visit to Natchez. He had noticed the bird sailing about 

 in easy circles, and at a considerable height in the air, generally in company 

 with the Turkey Buzzards, whose manner of .flight it almost exactly imi- 

 tated, so much so as to make it appear eitlier a miniature of tliat species, or 

 like one of them at a great distance, both being observed to soar at great 

 heights previous to a storm. Wilson conjectures that this apparent similar- 

 ity of manner of flight may be attributable to their pursuit of their respective 

 kinds of food, — the Buzzard on the lookout for carrion, and the birds of the 

 present species in search of those large beetles that are known to fly in the 



