FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



are eagerly taken, and their habit of robbing the Fish Hawk of his 

 well-earned booty is too well known to be commented upon. In some 

 localities, particularly in the south during the winter, they live largely 

 upon water-fowl which they capture themselves. 



The voice of the Bald Eagle has a weird, human quality. Dr. 

 Fisher says: "At a distance the note of the Bald Eagle is not alto- 

 gether unpleasant, resembling somewhat that of Sea Gulls, but near 

 by it is grating and suggests a maniacal laugh." Dr. William L. Ilalph 

 writes in Captain Bendire's Life Histories of North American Minis, 

 p. '-'??: "The cry of tin- male is a loud and elear rnr-i-ar-cur, quite dif- 

 ferent from that of the female so much so that 1 could always recog- 

 nize the sex of the bird by it; the call of the latter is more harsh and 

 often broken." 



The conspicuous white head ami tail of adults of this species render 

 it easy of identification even at a considerable distance. Young birds 

 too closely resemble Golden Kagles m lie distinguished with certainty, 

 but the rarity of that species in the east makes it probable that any 

 Eagle observed is a Bald Eagle. 



353. Falco islandus Hriinn. WHITK<;YUFALCOIT. Ad. Head white, 



finely streaked with black ; scapulars interseapiilars, un.l win^-coverts brown- 

 ish gray, widtly margined with white; tail white, the. central feathers with 

 Rometimcs broken bars; under parts white, lightly streaked with grayish 

 brown; under tail-coverts white. Im. Similar, but upper parts with nar- 

 rower white margins ; tail barred with brownish pray, under parts heavily 

 streaked with the same color. L., 22-00 ; W., 16-00 ; T., 10-00 ; B. from N., -95. 



Range. Arctic regions ; casually south in winter to Maine. 



Ntvt, on rocky elill's. E<JIJK, three to four, varying from creamy white, 

 spotted or blotched with cinnamon-brown, to uniform pale reddish brown, 

 spotted or blotched with shades of the same color, 2-30 v 1-85. 



"The food consists of water-fowl and other birds largely of vari- 

 ous arctic species of Grouse which are captured on the wing. All 

 these northern Falcons were formerly esteemed for hawking, as they 

 still are by the Mongol races; their style of flight is magnificent much 

 swifter than that of the Peregrine and both are deadly 'footers' 

 (i. e., tenacious of grip), but they lack spirit and dash " (Saunders). 



354. Falco rusticolus Linn. GRAY GYKFALCON. Ad. Upper parts 

 grayish fuscous, barred and margined with buffy white; tail with numerous 

 bars of the same colors; under parts white, streaked and spotted with blaek- 

 ish; legs and under tail-coverts barred with brownish gray. L., 20-00; W., 

 15-50; T., 9-50; B. from N., -90. 



Range. Arctic regions; in America, south in winter to the northern 

 I'nitcd States. 



Nett, on cliffs or in trees. Eggs, three to four, not distinguishable from 

 those of the preceding, 2-37 x l-?2. 



