THE HAWK TRIBE 1951 



frequently of a uniform brick-red color, but they may be mottled with a darker 

 shade. The merlin commonly preys upon small birds, and has been trained to fly 

 at snipe, larks, thrushes, etc. According to Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick, "the 

 strongest female merlins may be trained to fly pigeons admirably, and from their 

 small size, and the way in which they follow every turn and shift of the quarry, are 

 better adapted for this chase than the peregrine; unlike it, they do not stop when 

 the pigeon takes refuge in a hedge or tree, but dash in and generally secure it." 



In addition to its smaller size and much darker general color, the American 

 pigeon hawk is distinguished by having four black bars on the tail, of which the 

 last is much the widest. This falcon is a migratory species, with a swift and pow- 

 erful flight, breeding in open nests or hollows of trees, as well as on cliffs, and in 

 cavities in the banks of rivers. The following interesting anecdote is given by Mr. 

 R. Macfarlane regarding this species. On the twenty-fifth of May, 1864, an Indian 

 in his employ ' ' found a nest placed in the midst of a thick branch of a pine tree at 

 a height of about six feet from the ground. It was rather loosely constructed of a 

 few dry sticks and a small quantity of coarse hay; it then contained two eggs; both 

 parents were seen, fired at, and missed. On the thirty-first he revisited the nest, 

 which still held but two eggs, and again missed the birds. Several days later he 

 made another visit thereto, and, to his surprise, the eggs and parents had disap- 

 peared. His first impression was that some other person had taken them; after look- 

 ing carefully around he perceived both birds at a short distance, and this led him 

 to institute a search which soon resulted in finding that the eggs must have been 

 removed by the parent birds to the face of a muddy bank at least forty yards dis- 

 tant from the original nest. A few decayed leaves had been placed under them, 

 but nothing else in the way of lining. A third egg had been added in the interim. ' ' 

 The small falcons, of which the common kestrel or windhover is 

 the most familiar representative, constitute an extensive and easily 

 recognized group of the genus, distributed all over the globe with the exception of 

 Oceania. They are all short-toed birds, agreeing with the gerfalcons in the propor- 

 tionate lengths of the second and fourth digits; but resembling the peregrines in the 

 length of their wings, as shown by the interval between the tips of the primary and 

 secondary quills exceeding half the length of the tail. They have a peculiar and 

 characteristic type of coloration, easy of recognition but difficult of description; 

 and in the majority of the species (as shown in the figure of the lesser kestrel on p. 

 1953) the plumage is very differently colored in the two sexes, the hen bird being 

 barred, while the cocks are more uniform. Although the common kestrel feeds 

 chiefly on mice, many of the other species subsist to a great extent on insects. 



The common or true kestrel (F. tinnuncului) derives its name of windhover 

 from its habit of hanging suspended in mid-air, with its wings in rapid motion, its 

 fan-like tail spread out, and its head directed to windward. . When in this position 

 it spies a mouse or small bird below, it drops upon it suddenly and noiselessly with 

 unerring aim. The male kestrel, which attains a length of twelve and one-half 

 inches, has a yellow cere and limbs, bluish beak, and black claws. The crown of 

 the head, nape, and cheeks are ashy gray with dark streaks; the upper parts red- 

 dish fawn, with a small black spot on each feather; the quills blackish gray with 



