BIRDS OF PREY 159 
have had Duck Hawks dart down to rob me of wounded 
snipe lying almost at my feet, nor did my ineffectual: 
shots prevent them from returning.” 
There is little to be said in favor of this relentless 
persecutor of water-fowl, shore birds, and song birds. 
Solitary in habit except at the breeding season, it fears 
no bird of its kind except the marsh hawk and the prairie 
falcon. These two wage unceasing warfare on it when 
it becomes conspicuous about their hunting grounds, 
which it never does willingly. Its nest is made on an 
inaccessible cliff, or in a high tree away from all its kind. 
From the hour they emerge from the shell, the young are 
taught to devour anything in feathers brought to them ; 
and when they hunt for themselves, feathered game is the 
only food they know. When the first wave of migration 
starts southward in the fall, the Duck Hawks are close 
behind, easily overtaking any stragglers or weak ones, 
and, if necessary, pursuing the swift, strong fliers of 
twice their size and weight. So every flock of coastwise 
migrating birds, particularly those classed as water-fowl, 
has one or more of these fierce birds of prey in its wake, 
and its numbers are constantly decimated to furnish food 
for its pursuers. 
357. PIGEON HAWK. — Falco columbarius. 
Famity: The Falcons, Hawks, Eagles, ete. 
Length: Male 10.00-11.00 ; female 12.50-13.25. 
Adult Male: Upper parts slate-color, streaked with black ; wing-quills 
black, inner web spotted ; under parts and hind-neck buffy, nearly 
white on throat; streaked on breast, sides, and belly with dark ; 
middle tail-feathers barred with blackish and light gray. 
