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THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



TaMe showing the results of examinations of 11 stomachs of the Piairie Falcon 

 {Falco mexicanus). 



Summary.— Of 11 stomachs examined, 3 contained, game birds; 5, other birds; 2, mammals; 2, in- 

 sects ; and 3 were empty. 



DUCK HAWK. 



Falco peregrinus anatum. 

 [Plate 15— Adult.] 



The Duck Hawk inhabits all of America nortli of Chile. The 

 Peregrine Falcon, of which the Duck Hawk is a geographical race, 

 inhabits Europe and parts of Asia, and appears as a migrant in north- 

 ern Africa in winter. Another race, Peale's Falcon {Falco p. pealei), 

 is restricted to the northwest coast region from Oregon north to the 

 Aleutian and Commander Islands. The Duck Hawk is migratory in 

 the northern part of its range, consequently in fall it becomes more nu- 

 merous in favorite localities in the United States. On the Atlantic 

 coast it is comparatively rare in winter north of Long Island, It 

 breeds in the eastern United States as far south, at least, as the moun- 

 tains of Korth Carolina and Tennessee. 



The food of this Hawk consists almost exclusively of birds, of which 

 water-fowl and shore birds form the greater part. In sections of the 

 country where its nesting site is surrounded by cultivated lands, the bird 

 is complained of bitterly by the farmers on account of the inroads it 

 makes on the poultry. Speaking of a pair that had nested near Bran- 

 don, Vt., for over twenty years, Mr. F. H. Knowlton says: "They were 

 very destructive to poultry in the vicinity, and many unsuccessful at- 

 tempts were made to shoot them, until Mr. Winslow, remaining conceal- 

 ed near the nest for an entire day, shot both male and female as they 

 returned about dusk." (Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, vol. v, 1880, p. 57.) 

 The stomachs of two specimens secured by Mr. John Krider, not far 

 from Philadelphia, contained the remains of poultry. 



Mr. Henry Seebohm, speaking of the food of the European bird, says : 

 «<Most species of water-fowl are preyed upon, as well as Grouse and Par- 



