Birds of Indiana. 795 



Leiii-th, 15.50-20.00: wing, 11.30-14.75; tail, 6.00-9.00. (Fisher). 



1{axge. — America, from Chili to Arctic coast. Breeds locally from 

 the mountains of South Carolina, Arkansas and Lower California, 

 north. Winters chiefly south of northern boundary of United States 

 (New York and Manitoba south). 



Nest, in cavity in trees, and on cliffs, ^ggs, 3-5; pale creamy- 

 white, sometimes overlaid with light chocolate, irregularly blotched, 

 streaked and spotted with brown or reddish-brown; 2.10 by 1.68. 



Resident, not rare, in Lower Wabash Valley. Throughout the re- 

 mainder of the State, rare. Migrant. Breeds. 



Tn the spring of 1878, Mr. Robert Ridgway discovered that this 

 was by no means a rare bird in the heavy timber in the bottoms of the 

 Wabash River, in the vicnity of Mt. Carmel, Illinois. Three nests 

 were found there. All were placed in cavities in the top of very large 

 sycamore trees, and were inaccessible. One of these trees was fellecl, 

 and measurements with a tapeline showed the nest had been eighty- 

 nine feet from the ground. It was placed in a shallow cavity, caused 

 by breaking off of the main limb, the upper part of which projected 

 sufficiently to protect it. Four fully feathered young were taken from 

 the nest (B. N. 0. C, 1878, pp. 163, 164). 



Mr. Ridgway also informs me it breeds in Knox and Gibson coun- 

 •ties, Ind. The Duck Hawk usually nests on the proj-ections of cliffs, 

 and the foregoing sites are unusual. It has been taken elsewhere in 

 Indiana but a few times. A specimen in the collection of Mr. Gr. F. 

 Morson was taken in Starke County, Ind., September 25, 1884. Mr. 

 Toppan has noted it in Lake County in winter. There is a specimen 

 in the collection in the State Museum, which Mr. J. E. Beasley 

 informs me was taken near Slabtown, Boone County, May 14, 1896. 

 This is the largest of the true Falcons. If the days of falconry 

 were here, it would be considered of great value for such sport. It 

 generally mates in February. In this latitude its nesting time is 

 April and May. The eggs are deposited two or more days apart. 

 Incubation is performed by both birds, and lasts about four weeks. 

 But one brood is reared in a year. The late Col. N. S. Goss said, the 

 males, as far as noticed, sit upon the eggs in the fore part of the day, 

 and the females during the lattei; part. It is found to be one of the dis- 

 tinctively harmful species. If it were more common, it would do great 

 injury. Its principal food is waterfowl, sandpipers, plover, snipe and 

 such birds. It is also destructive to domestic poultry and pigeons. 

 "Of 20 stomachs examined, 7 contained poultry or game birds; 9, 

 other birds; 1, mice; 2, insects; and 4 were empty." (Fisher, Bull. 

 No. 3, Div. Orn. and Mam., IT. S. Dept. Agr., p. 109.) 



