GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 
Or 
bo 
72. FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM (Bonaparte). 
Duck HAWK. 
The first mention of this species by Dr. Avery is the 
record of two individuals at Greensboro, Sept. 10, 1886; 
the last record is of a single bird seen on the Gulf Coast 
of Baldwin County, Sept. 22, 1892. The species was evi- 
dently of considerable interest to the Doctor for he pub- 
lished three articles concerning it. These are quoted 
here in full. 
The first appeared under the title “Wiles of the Pere- 
grine Falcon,” and was published in the old “Ornitholo- 
gist and Oologist which has long since expired. It fol- 
lows: 
“While shooting one day, as I entered a large field, 
my attention was attracted to a flock of killdeer, flying 
high over head. They were as noisy as usual and flew 
in different directions, as if they had been disturbed and 
scattered. 
“Far below the killdeers, came rapidly towards me a 
peregrine falcon, one eye glancing up at a killdeer many 
feet above him. His long pointed wings beat the air 
with short, quick strokes, as they bore him with increas- 
ing speed till he reached a point just below his unwary 
victim, when, as an arrow from a bow, he shot upwards, 
passing not a foot ahead of the incoming killdeer. The 
bird literally flew into the outstretched talons that seized 
and bore it several hundred yards to the top of a tall 
oak tree. 
“Not many minutes had elapsed before I was standing 
under the tree. A well directed charge of No. 8 shot was 
launched at the hawk; the killdeer fell from his grasp; 
he fell to the under side of the limb on which he was 
perched, quivered a few seconds, released his hold, and 
followed his dead quarry to the ground. 
“On another occasion, I was shooting ducks in a slough 
in the Warrior bottom, when I heard an unusual noise, 
so loud and so continued was it that I took it to be the 
scream of same large bird in distress—a pileated wood- 
pecker perhaps. I hastened towards the place whence 
the cries proceeded. As I waded into the water, I saw. 
