12 THE PIGEON HAWK— MERLIN— " LITTLE CORPORAL." 



year ami the adult, is that in which the entire upper plumage is 

 either of a light ashy or dusky brown ; entire under parts dull 

 white with longitudinal stripes of light brown ; tail light brown, 

 with about six white bands. The third or youngest stage, or first 

 year bird, has the upper plumage of a nuich darker shade of brown, 

 approaching to black ; tail still darker, and with four bands of 

 dusky white. The cere and feet vary in all these stages from a 

 decided yellow to a dull greenish yellow. Besides these there are 

 a few other forms intermediate to the adu/^, younger and young 

 stages, which I cannot at present occupy space in describing. In 

 former years, when Canada was more the great breeding resort of 

 our Wild Pigeon {Ectopistes viigratoria, Swain), than it is at 

 present, the Pigeon Hawk was much more abundant. It then 

 arrived with the armies of these birds in early spring, and was by 

 far the most common species of hawk to be met with in the 

 country. Then countless numbers were observeci in a single day's 

 excursion, while of late years hardly one dozen specimens have 

 been obtained durine a summer's ramble. 



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The Pigeon Hawk, though of small size, is a fierce and most 

 courageous bird, and does not hesitate to attack birds of much 

 larger size than itself. It prejs not only upon pigeons, but also 

 upon black birds, rice birds, squirrels, mice and beetles. On one 

 occasion in Madoc, Ontario, I observed a female hawk of this 

 species making desperate attempts to obtain the young of the 

 Ruffed Grouse, which the parent bird, however, most ably de- 

 fended. The Golden-winged Wood-peckers {Colaptes Auratus, 

 Swain), and particularly the young of this species, are also a 

 favorite prey of this hawk. Reeks, in his notes on the birds of 

 Newfoundland, says, " Its food consists chiefly of small birds, 

 especially some of the smaller species of Tringac, which abound 

 on the coast in the fall of the year." It is a summer migrant to 

 Newfoundland, and is said to be " tolerably common." The 

 Pigeon Hawk undoubtedly breeds in many parts of Canada, but 

 its nidification has not been recorded from actual observation by 

 many of our collectors, although the eggs of the bird occur in a 

 number of collections. I am of the opinion that in choosing its 



