PIGEON HAWK. 369 



its nest, as given in his Notes on the Hudson's Bay Birds, is greatly at 

 variance with my own observations. The eggs in three instances, 

 which occurred at Labrador, were five ; they measured an inch and 

 three-quarters in length, an inch and a quarter in breadth, and were 

 rather elongated ; their ground colour a dull yellowish-brown, thickly 

 clouded with irregular blotches of dull dark reddish-brown. In that 

 country they are laid about the first of June. In the beginning of 

 July I found five in a nest that were ready to be hatched. The nests 

 were placed on the top branches of the low firs peculiar to that coun- 

 try, about ten or twelve feet from the ground, and were composed of 

 sticks slightly lined with moss and a few feathers. At this season the 

 old birds evinced great concern respecting their eggs or young, remain- 

 ing about them, and shewing all the tokens of anger and vexation which 

 other courageous species exhibit on similar occasions. The young are 

 at first covered with yellowish down ; but I had no opportunity of 

 watching their progress, as all that were taken on board the Ripley 

 died in a few days. This species also breeds in Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick. 



A male from the Texas. Length to end of tail 13| inches, to end 

 of wings lli%, to end of claws llj^V ; extent of wings 26. 



The mouth resembles that of the other Falcons ; its breadth 9| 

 twelfths. The tongue is short, 6 twelfths long, fleshy, deeply emargi- 

 nate and papillate at the base, broadly grooved above, the tip rounded 

 and slightly emarginate. The oesophagus is 4^ inches long, its width 

 at the upper part half an inch. The stomach is very large, round, 1^ 

 inch in diameter, with a very thin muscular coat ; its central tendons 

 4 twelfths in diameter. The proventriculus is 9 twelfths long ; its 

 glands very numerous, and cylindrical. The intestine is 26| inches 

 long, 2| twelfths in its greatest diameter. There are merely two slight 

 indications of cceca ; and the cloaca is globular, with a diameter of 1 

 inch. 



The trachea is 2| inches long, a little flattened ; the rings 58, well 

 ossified ; its breadth at the upper part 3 twelfths, at the lower 2 twelfths. 

 The contractor muscles cover the anterior surface entirely in the upper 

 thii'd, and are of moderate strength, as are the sterno-tracheales ; a pair 

 of inferior laryngeal muscles going to the membrane between the last 

 tracheal and first bronchial half ring. The bronchial half rings are 

 15 and 18. 



VOL. v, A a 



