( 46G ) 



THE PIGEON HAWK. 



Falco columbarius, Linn. 



PLATE XCII. Male and Fejiale. 



It is when the whole of^the shores of our eastern rivers are swarm- 

 ing with inyriacls_^of Rice Buntings, Red-wings, Soras, and other mi- 

 gratory birds, — when all the sportsmen of those parts of our country 

 are induced to turn out in the expectation of full bags of game, that the 

 daring feats of the little spirited Falcon now before you are displayed. 



Imagine yourself, good-natured reader, with a gun on your shoulder, 

 following the windings of one of those noble streams which embeUish our 

 country and facilitate its commerce, having constantly within your view 

 millions of birds on their way to the south, and which in the evenings 

 fall thick as the drops of a hail-shower on the bordering marshes, to spend 

 the night there in security, and by rest to restore the vigour necessary 

 for their o-aining the distant regions, whence half of them had emerged 

 the preceding spring. Well, as you are proceeding, full of anxiety, and 

 o-azing in astonishment at the multitudes of feathered travellers, all of a 

 sudden a larger bird attracts your eye. It sweeps along in the stillness 

 of the autumnal evening with a rapidity seldom equalled, creating confu- 

 sion, terror, and chsmay along the whole shores. The flocks rise en masse 

 with a fluttering sound which comes strangely on your ear, double and 

 double ao-ain, turn and wind over the marsh, agitated and fearful of im- 

 minent danger. And now, closely crowded, they would fain escape, but 

 alas ! one has been singled out, and in the twinldingof an eye, the Pigeon 

 Hawk, darting into the middle of the flock, seizes and carries him off*. 

 Now is your time. Hundreds of sportsmen are dispersed over the marsh, 

 paddling their canoes, or splashing among the reeds. Pull your trigger, 

 and let fly, for it is impossible, should you be ever so inexpert, not to 

 bring down several birds at a shot. 



But, leaving you to your sport, I must follow the little marauder, as 

 he makes toward the nearest shore, where he ahghts and devours his prey, 

 and then, with unsatiated appetite, and bent on foul deeds, returns to the 

 scene of action. 



When the Reed-birds, the Redwings, and Soras, shall have become 



