BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 199 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Entirely white; upper parts with regular transverse, and very 
distinct bands of brown, becoming somewhat crescent shaped 
onthe scapulars and rump, and slightly acuminate on the 
shafts of the feathers; quills white and brownish black at their 
tips; tail white, with about twelve transverse narrow bands of 
brown; under parts with a few longitudinal lines of dark brown. 
Length, 24; wing, 16.50; tail, 10. 
Habitat, northern North America, 
FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM (Bonaparte). (356. ) 
DUCK HAWK. 
The typical species of all the true falcons, the Duck Hawk 
is the last of its family to escape the recognition of the genuine 
sportsman. Minnesota being the El Dorado of this species, 
dotted all over with its innumerable lakes, ponds and streams, 
whither the duck kingdom repairs in the seasons of migration, 
and to breed in many cases extensively, it may be asked why 
should this hawk go further. He reaches us simultaneously with 
the arrival of the ducks and geese, which varies somewhat with 
the different seasons. It is more frequently in the last days of 
March, or first in April, but I have known them to be here in 
force by the 17th of the former month. The Duck Hawk never 
goes long hungry, for while the birds of the water are in mi- 
gration, his larder is at hand. Like others of its family which 
build on inaccessible cliffs on the seashore, it takes to the trees 
here, and constructs its nest of sticks, twigs, grass and leaves, 
in which are dropped four reddish-brown eggs, which are 
minutely spotted and blotched with a darker shade of the same. 
The young of this species have been found on the wing by the 
25th of May, although some pairs are only building or incu- 
bating at that date. As compared with some others the Duck 
Hawks are not a numerous species, but are fairly so for their 
own. Their chief breeding section seems to be in the great 
forest and lake region in the northern counties of the State.* 
Their agility on the wing is simply marvelous, and their dart- 
ing not a whit less so. When in proximity to their prey, they 
seem almost insensible to danger, but when once they have 
secured it, their discretion returns to dominate all their move- 
ments, and they seek places of entire safety in which to devour 
-*Mr. Lewis found them breeding on the shores of several lakes in Becker and Cass 
counties. At Leech Lake were two nests. In every instance they were constructed 
on trees at considerable elevation, but no more difficult to reach than those of the 
other species of large hawks. \ 
—14z 
