FALCON. 



parts of the same tint, each feather being streaked 

 down the centre with a long black drop, those on the 

 breast slender, on the sides larger ; upper part of the 

 back and scapulars deep reddish bay, marked with 

 ten transverse waves of black ; whole wing-coverts, 

 and ends of the secondaries, black, tipped with 

 white, and spotted on their inner vanes with the 

 same ; lower part of the back, the rump, and the 

 tail-coverts, plain bright bay ; tail rounded, the two 

 exterior feathers white, their inner vanes beautifully 

 spotted with black ; the next bright bay, with a 

 broad band of black near its end, and tipped for 

 half an inch with yellowish white ; part of its lower 

 exterior edge white, spotted with black, and its 

 opposite interior edge touched with white ; the whole 

 of the others are very deep bay, with a single broad 

 band of black near the end, and tipped with yellowish 

 white ; cere and legs yellow ; orbits the same ; bill 

 light blue ; iris of the eye dark, almost black ; claws 

 blue black. 



This species is not confined to the United States, 

 and indeed it is a native of the warm countries rather 

 than the cold ones, being more abundant in the 

 southern states of the American Union than in the 

 northern, and being especially numerous in St. 

 Domingo or Hayti, and not unknown on the con- 

 tinent of South America. In all probability, indeed, 

 its colours and character may vary in different parts 

 of the vast range of latitude over which it extends, so 

 that it is possible that several of those species about 

 the same size, which have been named as occurring 

 in different parts of the American continent, are 

 nothing more than climatal varieties of this one ; and 

 as it is one of the few foreign species of which the cha- 

 racters are tolerably well known, we shall quote from 

 Wilson a short passage descriptive of its manners : 

 It flies rather irregularly, occasionally suspending 

 itself in the air, hovering over a particular spot for a 

 minute or two, and then shooting off in another 

 direction. It perches on the top of a dead tree or 

 pole, in the middle of a field or meadow, and, as it 

 alights, shuts its long wings so suddenly, that they 

 seem instantly to disappear. It sits here in an 

 almost perpendicular position, sometimes for an hour 

 at a time, frequently jerking its tail, and reconnoiter- 

 ing the ground below, in every direction, for mice, 

 lizards, &c. It approaches the farm-house, particu- 

 larly in the morning, skulking about the farm-yard 

 for mice or young chickens. It frequently plunges 

 into a thicket after small birds, as if at random, but 

 always with a particular, and generally with a fatal, 

 aim. One day I observed a bird of this species 

 perched on the highest top of a large poplar on the 

 skirts of the wood, and was in the act of raising the 

 gun to my eye, when he swept down with the rapi- 

 dity of an arrow into a thicket of briars about thirty 

 yards off, where I shot him dead, and, on coming up, 

 found a small field-sparrow quivering in his grasp. 

 Both our aims had been taken at the same instant, 

 and, unfortunately for him, both were fatal. It is 

 particularly fond of watching along hedge-rows and 

 in orchards, where small birds usually resort. When 

 grasshoppers are plenty, they form a considerable part 

 of its food." Wilson adds a very characteristic in- 

 stance of the delicacy of taste of this falcon in respect 

 to its food : " Though small snakes, mice, lizards, 

 &c.," says he, " be favourite morsels with this active 

 bird, yet we. are not to suppose it altogether destitute 

 of delicacy in feeding. It will seldom or never eat of 



anything that it has not itself killed, and even that, if 

 not (as epicures would term it) in good eating order, is 

 sometimes rejected. A very respectable friend, through 

 the medium of Mr. Bartram, informs me, that one 

 morning he observed one of these hawks dart down 

 on the ground, and seize a mouse, which he carried 

 to a fence-post, where, after examining it for some 

 time, he left it, and, a little while after, pounced upon 

 another mouse, which he instantly carried off to his 

 nest, in the hollow of a tree hard by. The gentleman, 

 anxious to know why the hawk had rejected the first 

 mouse, went up to it, and found it to be almost 

 covered with lice, and greatly emaciated ! Here was 

 not only delicacy of taste, but sound and prudent 

 reasoning. If I carry this to my nest, thought he, it 

 will fill it with vermin, and hardly be worth eating. 



" The blue jays have a particular antipathy to this 

 bird, and frequently insult it by following and imitat- 

 ing its notes so exactly, as to deceive even those well 

 acquainted with both. In return for all this abuse, 

 the hawk contents himself with, now and then, feast- 

 ing on the plumpest of his persecutors, who are, 

 therefore, in perpetual dread of him ; and yet, 

 through some strange infatuation, or from fear that, 

 if they lose sight of him, he may attack them un- 

 awares, the sparrow-hawk no sooner appears than 

 the alarm is given, and the whole force of jays 

 follow." This tendency which small birds have to 

 crowd round and annoy their more powerful enemies, 

 is a curious point in natural history, and one the 

 rationale of which is not very easily understood ; the 

 more so, that it does not hold in the case of the very 

 powerful birds of prey. Nobody we presume, has seen 

 a flock of birds, either great or small, following and 

 annoying the golden eagle, the jerfalcon, or even 

 the peregrine. It is true that these prey less fre- 

 quently upon little birds than the smaller hawks; and 

 therefore they do not stand so directly in the charac- 

 ter of enemies ; but still, as was observed by Wilson, 

 and is reported by American naturalists generally, 

 the ospreys crowd round and annoy the white-headed 

 eagle. The grand object seems to be, so to distract 

 the attention of the enemy, as that he shall not be 

 able to single out any one individual as his victim, 

 but wear himself out in a crowd, the members of 

 which are all equally attractive. This point, if duly 

 worked out, might help to explain the curious subject 

 of fascination, which some animals appear to possess 

 over their prey. 



THE PIGEON FALCON (Falco coluinbanns) is 

 another American species, rather larger than the pre- 

 ceding one, and of a more bold and intrepid character. 

 True to this character, it is a more northerly bird, 

 breeding and rearing its young as far to the north as 

 the inhospitable rocks which surround Hudson's 

 Bay, and not appearing in the United States till the 

 month of November, when the small birds congregate. 

 " When," says Wilson, " the reed-bird, grakles, and 

 red-winged blackbirds congregate in large flights, he 

 is often observed hovering in their rear, or on their 

 flanks, picking up the weak, the wounded, or strag- 

 glers, and frequently making a sudden and fatal 

 sweep into the very midst of their multitudes. The 

 flocks of robins and pigeons are honoured with the 

 same attentions from this marauder, whose daily 

 excursions are entirely regulated by the -movements 

 of the great body on whose unfortunate members il 

 fattens. The individual from which the present 

 description was taken, was shot in the meadows 



