28 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Powerful, active, and gifted witli great rapidity of fliglit, 

 he is able to attack and conquer birds and animals greatly 

 his superior in size and weight. The Common Hare (^Lepus 

 Americanus) often falls a victim to his voracity. Ducks, 

 grouse, squirrels, and small birds, are destroyed by him ; 

 and I have known of his capturing and eating snakes and 

 other reptiles, and even grasshoppers and crickets. 



In hunting for prey, he usually flies just above the trees 

 in the forest, and quite near the earth in the open country. 

 His flight consists of a rapid succession of beatings of the 

 wings, with intervals of equal periods of soarings. On 

 discovering a bird or other object that he may wish to 

 capture, he immediately gives chase. If the bird takes to 

 the foliage of the trees, he immediately follows, turning at 

 every turn, doubling and twisting through the trees with 

 wonderful speed and success ; and the chase is usually but 

 a very short one indeed before he alights to feed on the 

 quarry that he has secured. 



He is very destructive to the flocks of young ducks that 

 breed in the wilder districts of the country. I remember 

 an instance of one of his raids on these birds that is not 

 without interest. 



While on a hunting and collecting excursion in the wilds 

 of Maine, up the Magalloway River, — a beautiful stream 

 that empties into the Androscoggin, near Lake Umbagog, — 

 I wandered down the river banks, that are, for nearly the 

 entire length of the stream, fringed with a thick growth of 

 trees, away from the camp perhaps a mile. I was watching 

 an old Black Duck (Anas ohscura) and her brood of eight 

 " flappers " disporting themselves in the water, and impa- 

 tiently waiting for an opportunity for a shot; for, kind 

 reader, I can assure you that a " broiled flapper," or wild 

 duck about half grown, is a delicacy which, once enjoyed, is 

 eagerly sought for by the frequenters of the wilderness. As 

 I was creeping cautiously within shot of the birds, I sud- 

 denly heard a " quack " and splash, and the whole bevy was 



