CREEPER— WARBLER-HAWK. 



But little can be remarked here concerning this bird, as it is only to 

 be met with now and then in spring, and during a sojourn of 

 nearly eight years in Ohio, the writer has seen it only twice in 

 the fall ; but as the woods are then still thick with leaves, and the 

 bird perfectly silent, it is more difficult to get sight of him, and 

 he probably makes a shorter stay than in spring. Although no 

 pains were spared to find his nest, here as well as in more north- 

 ern districts, still the search has not been successful. During 

 summer not one single individual of this species has been ob- 

 served. 



Our plate shows the male. The female has a kind of a dusky 

 ash on the breast, and some specimens which had been shot were 

 nearly white. 



The Black and White Creeper. (Mniotilla vart'a.) 

 Fig. 6. 



This is also one of the little birds which ought to be respected 

 by farmers and husbandmen generally, on account of his extreme 

 usefulness. He clears their fruit and forest trees of myriads of 

 destructive insects, particularly ants, although he does not sere- 

 nade them with his songs. He seldom perches on the small twigs, 

 but circumambulates the trunk and larger branches, in quest of 

 ants and other insects, with admirable dexterity. He is evidently 

 nearer related to the Creepers than to the Warblers, for his hind 

 claw is the largest, and his manners, as well as his tongue, which 

 is long, fine-pointed, and horny at the extremity, characterize him 

 strongly as a true Creeper. He arrives in Missouri, toward the 

 latter part of April, and begins soon afterward to build his 

 nest. One which we had the good luck to discover was fixed in the 

 crack of the trunk of a large tree, and was composed of some 

 fibers and dry leaves, lined with hair and a soft cotton-like down. 

 It contained five young ones recently hatched. This was on the 

 28th of April. At about the beginning of October, the whole tribe 

 leave again for warmer climates, probably the West Indies, though 

 we have been informed that at least several of them have been 

 perceived in the Gulf States during the whole winter. 



The male and female are nearly alike in colors. 



The Yellow-Throated Warbler. (Dendroica superciliosa) 

 Fig. 7. 



The habits and manners of this splendid little bird are not con- 

 sistent with the shape and construction of his bill, his ways being 

 those of the Creepers or the Titmouse, while the peculiarities of 

 his bill rank him with the Warblers. His notes, which are loud 

 and spirited, resemble strongly those of the Indigo Blue Bird 

 (Cyanospiza Cyanea) . He utters them every three or four minutes, 

 while creeping around the branches or among the twigs in the 

 manner of the Titmouse. On flying to another tree, he frequently 

 alights on the trunk and creeps nimbly up and down or spirally 

 around it, in search of food, like a Creeper. He leaves the North 

 for a short time only in winter, and can not, therefore, migrate very 

 far South. They have been seen in the North as late as the middle 

 of November, and as early again in the spring as the 12th of 

 March. In the State of Connecticut, on the banks of the Connecti- 

 cut river, great numbers of them have been observed as late in the 

 fall as the 10th of October. They are rarely met with there in the 

 spring, but why, we are unable to state. They seem to be rather 

 partial to running waters, in the vicinity of which they are invari- 

 ably found; sometimes on trees, sometimes hanging on fences, 

 head downward, like the Titmouse, or searching among the dry 

 leaves on the ground. 



The bird on our plate is the perfect male. As to the female, her 

 wings are of a dingy brown, and her colors in general, particu- 

 larly the yellow on the breast, much duller. The young birds of 

 the first season are without the yellow. 



PLATE VI. 



The Wandering Falcon, or Great-Footed Hawk. (Falco feregrinus^ 



The Wandering Falcon, Mountain Falcon, Rock Falcon, Duck 

 Hawk, or Great-footed Hawk, justly deserves his names. He 

 roams almost all over the world. His home extends from the 

 northeast of Asia to western Europe, and the question is yet to be 

 solved whether our American bird is a different species or not. It 

 is evident he is not ; for the size, as well as the general characteris- 

 tic traits of both the American and the one described by European 

 writers, agree almost to minuteness. Some of the European orni- 

 thologists differ somewhat in the description of his coloring ; but 

 these discrepancies seem to have been occasioned by specimens of 

 different ages, more than by any other cause. He is also found in 

 the interior of Africa, and, according to Jerdon, in India. This ex- 

 cellent observer says : ' ' The Wandering Falcon is found through- 

 out India, from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin, but only during the 

 cold season ; especially plentiful near the sea-coasts, or on the 

 shores of large rivers. He does not breed there, as far as I can 

 ascertain, but is only a winter visitor, who appears in October and 

 leaves again in April." In America he extends his wanderings far 

 to the South ; whether they reach to South America has not been 

 ascertained, but it is certain that he flies across the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. To his immense faculty of flying, a distance of a few hun- 

 dred miles is mere fun. He inhabits large forests, especially those 

 interspersed with high steep rocks, but is occasionally found close 

 to habitations, and even large cities. The one that served for 

 our drawing was, for instance, shot in the neighborhood of Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, on the Scioto river, in the month of September. He is 

 a powerful, daring, and extremely agile bird, and experience shows 

 that he knows, too, how to make use of his natural gifts. His 

 flight is extremely swift, mostly close to the ground, in spring only 

 rising to heights immeasurable and almost out of sight. He sel- 

 dom is sailing but rapidly flapping his long wings. Before rising, 

 he flies a short distance low above the ground and with expanded 

 tail. He is very shy and cautious, choosing the densest pine forests 

 to pass the night, and if such be too far to be reached, prefers sit- 

 ting on a piece of rock in an open field. His voice is strong and 

 penetrating, sounding somewhat like Kajak ! Kajak I 



The Wandering Falcon attacks birds only, from a Wild Goose 

 down to a Meadow Lark. Among Pigeons, Qriails, and Grouse 

 he makes the greatest havoc, but is especially fond of Ducks, which 

 he pursues with untiring tenacity. Water-fowls, when approached 

 by a gunner, usually take to the wing ; not so if our Falcon is vis- 

 ible. Then they make all speed to the water and dive, and those 

 only which are on land or in shallow water fly off, till they reach 

 deep water, then suddenly drop and dive also ; but this caution ort 

 their part is of no avail, for the Hawk will hover above the water 

 till they are exhausted, then strike down upon them and pick 

 them up. 



All birds seem to know him, for not one attacks him, not even 

 the otherwise courageous Crows. All are anxious to save them- 

 selves as soon as he is in sight. He usually strangles his prey in 

 the air, before it can even reach the ground. Larger birds, such as 

 the Wild Goose, which he has seized, are tormented by him in the 

 air until they drop down with him, and then are killed. By throw- 

 ing himself with full force upon his victim, the latter is stunned by 

 the concussion, and drops. This is probably the reason he never 

 attacks a bird that is sitting on the ground, as he would run the risk 

 of killing himself by the concussion. Small birds he carries away 

 to a convenient place ; larger ones he eats on the spot where they 

 dropped, plucking off some of their feathers before he begins. 

 Small birds he devours, together with the intestines, which he re- 

 jects in the bigger ones. In his attacks he very seldom fails, and 

 they seem to be but play to him. 



His nest is chiefly built in cracks of steep rocks, difficult, if not 



