BIRDS OF NEW YORK IOI 



ledge, each day with greater freedom. Sometimes they fall from the nesting- 

 shelf and perish on the rocks below, as was the case with a tiercel in my 

 collection, from the Lower Ausable lake. The unhappy fall of this bird 

 was witnessed by Messrs Achilles, Taylor and Fuller, who were helping 

 me in the Adirondack bird survey. They had watched the eyry for 24 

 hours from a concealed station to observe the visits of the parent falcons. 

 Food was brought only once in this time, and the young birds became 

 unusually restless. Finally the male fell over the mountain side and was 

 killed on the talus slope. I believe that the old birds in this case were 

 trying to lure the young from the nest by bringing insufficient food to the 

 ledge. As the young begin to fly the parent birds fly by with prey in their 

 talons, and the young rise to snatch it from them in mid-air as they pass. 

 Thus the weaklings are sometimes left to perish, or in their struggles to 

 obtain the prize meet their destruction. The falcon's eyry must needs be 

 a strenuous school to train the fiercest of all our raptores for his murderous 

 career. 



Falco columbarius columbarius Linnaeus 

 Pigeon Hawk 



Plate 52 



Falco columbarius Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1 758. 1 : 90 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 15, fig. 9 

 Falco columbarius columbarius A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. 

 p. 165. No. 357 



columba'rius, Lat., pertaining to pigeons 



Description. A small but robust, stocky falcon. Tarsus about as 

 long as middle toe. Male: Bluish gray above, the shafts black; the tail 

 crossed by about 4 blackish bands; the wings dusky, bar-spotted with 

 whitish. Under parts and neck bufly white to ocherous, streaked with 

 blackish. Bill bluish; cere and legs yellow; iris dark brown. Female and 

 young: Dusky brown, the tail with about 5 whitish bands; under parts 

 similar to male's but more heavily streaked. 



Length. Male 10-11 inches; wing 7.40-7.85; tail 4.65-5.25; tarsus 

 1. 30-1. 40; middle toe without claw 1.10-1.25. Female 12.50-13.50; wing 

 8.30-8.60. 



This hawk may be recognized at a distance, first by having the 



