GREAT-FOOTED HAWK. 27 



are black ; the wings and scapulars are brownish black, each feather 

 edged with paler, the former long and pointed, reaching almost to the 

 end of the tail ; the primaries and secondaries are marked transversely, 

 on the inner vanes, with large oblong spots of ferruginous white ; the 

 exterior edge of the tip of the secondaries curiously scallopped, as if a 

 piece had been cut out ; the tertials incline to ash color ; the lining of 

 the wings is beautifully barred with black and white, and tinged with 

 ferruginous ; on a close examination, the scapulars and tertials are found 

 to be barred with faint ash ; all the shafts are black ; the rump and 

 tail-coverts are light ash, marked with large dusky bars ; the tail is 

 rounding, black, tipped with reddish white, and crossed with eight nar- 

 row bars of very faint ash ; the chin and breast, encircling the black 

 mustaches, are of a pale bufl" color ; breast below, and lower parts, red- 

 dish buff, or pale cinnamon, handsomely marked with roundish or heart- 

 shaped spots of black ; sides broadly barred with black ; the femorals 

 are elegantly ornamented with herring-bones of black, on a buff ground ; 

 the vent is pale buff, marked as the femorals, though with less numerous 

 spots ; the feet and legs are of a dirty white, stained with yellow ochre, 

 the legs short and stout, feathered a little below the knees, the bare part 

 one inch in length ; span of the foot five inches, with a large protuberant 

 sole ; middle toe as long as the tarsus ; the claws are large and black, 

 middle one three-quarters of an inch long, hind claw seven-eighths of an 

 inch. 



The most striking characters of this species are the broad patch of 

 black dropping below the eye, and the uncommonly large feet. It is 

 stout, heavy, and firmly put together. 



The bird from which the above description was taken, was shot in a 

 cedar swamp, in Cape May county, New Jersey. It was a female, and 

 contained the remains of small birds, among which were discovered the 

 legs of the Sanderling. The figure in the plate is an excellent resem- 

 blance of the original, which was handsomely set up in the Philadelphia 

 Museum. 



I am indebted to Mr. Titian Peale, for the view of an immature 

 specimen of the Duck Hawk, which he shot near the Rocky Mountains ; 

 it was quite young, having just left the nest. Its colors were principally 

 a dirty white, and a reddish brown ; the patch below the eye not very 

 conspicuous ; but the characters of the bill and feet proved the species. 



According to Temminck, the Peregrine Falcon never inhabits marshy 

 countries ; but this, I presume, is a mistake, as our bird is remarkable 

 for its attachment to those places which are affected by the water fowl ; 

 and it is well known that the latter abound in all the marshes of the 

 coast. 



In the month of November, 1823, I procured a fine living specimen 

 of the Duck Hawk, which I preserved, with the view of noting its 



