184 NOTES ON THE 
less direct until right upon its victim. If it misses the first 
dash, the chase is by no means relinquished, but will be con- 
tinued anywhere the pursued goes. I have known an instance 
in which it followed a domestic fowl through an open window 
of a farmhouse and undera bed. ‘The severity of our winters 
keeps the poultry housed too closely for them to do much dam- 
age until the very last part of their stay in March. 
Mr. Lewis observed them in the pineries so late in ‘May as 
to make it almost certain that they breed in the vicinity of 
Mille Lacs, and further north in the State. Dr. Hvoslef 
reported one in Fillmore county on the 19th of March, which 
had doubtless begun its migration. 
Of late years I rarely meet this hawk among the collections 
of the taxidermists, or fresh specimens on the shelves of the 
societies; a fact of common note with bird collectors. The 
species evidently retires northward very early in the spring, 
and before the temperature of the weather has allowed the 
enthusiastic observer to reach fever point in his ambitions. 
When I have found my way into the timbered sections early 
after the winter has broken, I have found them sailing swiftly 
along the brushy edges of the woods, or the borders of the 
woodland streams, scarcely swerving in their course to seize 
their prey, which was speedily borne into the trackless forest 
to be consumed in undisturbed repose. They are a terror to 
the early flocks of Wild Pigeons when they come, making sure 
supplies of them under any circumstances conceivable. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Head above, neck behind and stripe from behind the eye 
black, generally more or less tinged with ashy; other under 
parts dark ashy-bluish, or slate color, with the shafts of the 
feathers black and frequently with the feathers narrowly 
edged with black, presenting a squamate or scale-like appear- 
ance; a conspicuous stripe over the eye and an obscure and — 
partially concealed occipital and nuchal band, white; entire 
under parts mottled with white and light ashy-brown, every 
feather with a longitudinal line of dark brown on the shaft, 
and with numerous irregular and imperfect transverse lines or 
narrow stripes of light ashy-brown, more distinct and regular 
on the abdomen and tibiae; quills brown with bands of a 
deeper shade of the same color and of ashy-white on their 
inner webs; tail same color as other under parts; under 
surface very pale, nearly white, having about four obscure 
bands of a deeper shade of ashy-brown, narrowly tipped with 
white; under tail coverts white. 
Length (of female), 22 to 24; wing, 14; tail 10.50 to 11. 
Habitat, North America. 
