226 



BIRD-LAND ECHOES. 



heard them called " feather-boots." Though the 

 great contrast in the colors of its plumage, which 

 vary from dirty white to black, is deceptive, and has 

 seemed to many to indicate different species, there 

 were practical observers in my early days who 

 doubted this, and one old shooter, who was of an in- 

 quiring frame of mind, called my attention to a 



row of nine nailed to 

 his barn door, that well 

 illustrated the grada- 

 tions from approaching 

 albinism to the most 

 distinctly melanistic 

 form. Of all its names, 

 perhaps because the 

 first that I heard given 

 it, I prefer " feather- 

 boots," and as such I 

 shall always know it. 



Though we read a 

 good deal about the 

 black hawk's sluggish- 

 ness, its labored flight, 

 and its "ignoble" ways 

 in general, old " feather- 

 boots" is no fool, and when in full black, with no 

 quills lost from its wings or tail, the only atten- 

 tion that the bird receives at the hands of man is in 

 the way of persecution by loafers, it has a de- 

 cidedly noble aspect ; and given an open field, with 

 a fair chance for the mouse, " feather-boots" will 



Rough-legged Falcon. 



