May 1887.] 



AKD OOLOGIST. 



75 



ards me a Peregrine Falcon, one eye glancing 

 up at a killdeer many feet above him. His 

 long pointed wings beat the air with short, 

 quick strokes, as they bore him with increas- 

 ing speed till he reached a point just below his 

 unwary victim, when, as an arrow from a bow, 

 he shot upwai'ds, passing not a foot ahead of 

 the incoming killdeer. The bird literally flew 

 into the outstretched talons that seized and 

 bore it several hundred yards to the top of a 

 tall red oak tree. 



Not many minutes had elapsed before I was 

 standing under the tree. A well directed charge 

 of No. 8 shot was launched at the hawk ; the 

 killdeer fell from his grasp ; he fell to the 

 under side of the limb on which he was perch- 

 ed, quivered a few seconds, released his hold, 

 and followed his dead quarry to the ground. 



On another occasion, I was shooting ducks in 

 a slough in the Warrion bottom, when [ heard 

 an unusual noise, so loud and so continued was 

 it that I took it to be the scream of some large 

 bird in distress — a Pileated Woodpecker per- 

 haps. I hastened towards the place whence 

 the cries proceeded. As I waded into the 

 wafer, 1 saw a Peregrine Falcon hovering 

 above the timber, as a Fish Hawk balances 

 himself before he descends. I started a black 

 duck from under a log not ten feet from me; 

 as I proceeded other ducks left their hiding 

 places and sought safety in flight. They were 

 aware of the danger over head in the shape of 

 the Falcon, and all the frightful screams of the 

 cunning hawk had not caused them to leave 

 the water. My presence in their very midst 

 had alarmed them and so soon as they were on 

 the wing the Falcon darted like lightning after 

 them, and they disappeared through the tim- 

 ber with their pursuer close behind them. 



The capture of the Killdeer by the Falcon, in 

 the manner above described, was certainly as- 

 tonishing. It was evidently a ruse, as the bird 

 did not see its enemy, till like an apparition, he 

 shot up just ahead and the two taloned feet 

 were extended to receive it. 



The Falcon resorts, also, to cunning when he 

 seeks to frighten the ducks from the water by 

 screams louder than I had supposed it possible 

 for such a bird to make. 



Sometimes the shooter is surprised by the 

 presence of the Peregrine Falcon as he falls, as 

 it were, from the very clouds. 



Once, upon the coast of North Carolina, near 

 Nay's Head, I had shot several Willets and was 

 reloading my muzzle, when a Peregrine Falcon 

 stooped at a winged Willet that stood in the 

 water not twenty yards from me. The wound- 



ed bird escaped by squatting suddenly. The 

 upward flight of the Falcon seemed to iiie not 

 less rapid than had been his descent. I had 

 one barrel loaded, the contents of which I sent 

 after himwithout apparent eftect, as he towered 

 in a few seconds beyond the reach of dangci-. 



One among other occasions, when this ma- 

 rauder has suddenly appeared on the scene. 1 

 shall never forget. 1 had one day scattered a 

 covey of partridges {(Jolbnus virr/i,iianus) in an 

 open fleld, and had hunted the single birds for 

 some time with varied success; now killing, 

 now missing a bird. Finally my dog pointed 

 in a sedge field, at least a half a mile from the 

 nearest woods. 1 flushed the bird and missed 

 it; almost simultaneously with the shot, a 

 Peregrine Falcon stooped from the sky ; com- 

 ing downward and directly behind the whir- 

 ring partridge, he passed by me swift as the 

 leaden shower 1 had just sent in vain after poor 

 Bob White ; overtaking but missing his (juarry 

 before it had flown two hundred yards. It 

 seemed to me that the Falcon must have flown 

 with at least four times the speed of the part- 

 ridge, and that he flew at least a half a mile 

 while the latter was going two hundred yaids. 



That bird was bagged that day by neither 

 shooter nor hawk. 1 marked it tlown ; but I 

 had not the heart to flush and shoot at it 

 again when it had escaped the leaden missiles 

 hurled after it, and the sharp talons of the hun- 

 gry Falcon that followed in their wake. 



Nesting of the Barred Owl in 

 Texas. 



BY EDWIN C. DAVIS, GAINESVILLK, TEXAS. 



Imagine yourself twenty-five miles from any 

 railroad station, and miles away from a house 

 of any kind, on a cold and disagreeable day in 

 March, and no possible chance of finding shel- 

 ter from a drenching rain. Well, this was the 

 condition of a friend and myself on the (ith day 

 of March, 1886. We had set out to visit the 

 swamps of the Sabine river in hopes of adding 

 a few sets of Bubo's eggs to our collections, and 

 as all preparations had been made, on the day 

 named we started and after travelling almost a 

 day through underbrush, over decayed logs, 

 and after wading through bogs and driftwood 

 almost waist deep, we arrived at our place of 

 destination. Being very much fatigued from 

 our day's journey we concluded to "pitch our 

 tents" on a high point near by, which we dis- 

 covered to be above high water mark. (The 



