PIGEON HAWK. 467 



so scarce as to be searched for with the same interest as our little Par- 

 tridges already are ; when the margins of our rivers shall have been 

 drained and ploughed to the very tide-mark ; when the Grouse shall have 

 to be protected by game-laws ; when Turkeys shall no longer be met with 

 in the wild state ; — how strange will the tale which I now tell sound in 

 the ears of those who may walk along the banks of these rivers, and over 

 the fields which have occupied the place of these marshes ! 



The Pigeon Hawk does not, I believe, raise its young within the 

 United States, but somewhere farther to the north. At least, I am in- 

 clined to think so, for in all my wanderings I never found its nest, nor 

 saw the bird at any other season than late in summer, during the autum- 

 nal months, or in the winter. Its migration, or rather its pursuit of mi- 

 grating birds, extends to the southernmost parts of our country ; for I 

 have killed it not only in Louisiana, but high up the Arkansas River, in 

 regions bordering upon the Mexican territory. 



The daring spirit which it displays exceeds that of any other Hawk 

 of its size. It seizes the Red-breasted Thrush, the Wild Pigeon, and 

 even the Golden-winged Woodpecker, on land ; whilst along the shores 

 it chases several species of Snipes, as well as the Green- winged Teal. The 

 latter bird, however, dives at the approach of the Hawk, and thus eludes 

 his gripe ; while the little plunderer, having descended to the surface of 

 the water with the velocity of an arrow, passes onwards, ascending again, 

 without seeming to move its wings, the impulse which it acquired in the 

 descent carrying it onwards, as a carriage, after being whirled down a 

 steep declivity, surmounts the next eminence, without additional propul- 

 sion. Even the presence of the tyrant man he little heeds, and in Penn- 

 sylvania one of this species came almost right upon me while in pursuit 

 of a dove, which found safety in my bosom from its persecutor. 



When not in full chase, the Pigeon Hawk flies with an unsteady and 

 undetermined notion, flapping its wings frequently, while it rises in spiral 

 curves. This parade is of short duration, for, as if it remembered that 

 it was losing time, it again approaches the ground, and skims swiftly over 

 the streams, across the fields, along the fences, or by the skirts of the 

 woods, as if intending to frighten all the httle birds in its way. Should 

 it unexpectedly meet a man, it darts upwards, and quickly passes over to 

 continue its search. I have known these Hawks attack birds in cases, 

 hanging against the walls of houses, in the very streets of our eastern 

 ities. G g 2 



