98 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Auk, 9:203. This specimen is a female, and measured "Length 22.5 

 inches; tail 9.50; wing 15.50, spread 51; cere and feet gray, not so bright 

 a gray as in the Osprey." Another specimen is reported from Bellport, 

 L. I., winter of 1899, by Mr W. A. Babson. 



Falco peregrinus anatum Bonaparte 

 Duck Hawk 



Plates 43 and 51 



Falco anatum Bonaparte. Geog. and Comp. List. 1838. 4 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 13, fig. 8 

 Falco peregrinus anatum A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 164. 

 No. 3s6a 



peregrinus, Lat., wandering; anatum, Lat., of ducks 



Description. A large powerful falcon. Adult: cf and 9 bluish slate 

 above becoming black on crown and sides of head ; the back and wing-coverts 

 indistinctly barred or spotted with dusky; tail with several blackish bars; 

 under parts buffy or dull whitish, the chest sparingly streaked, and the 

 remainder, including the under surfaces of wings and tail, uniformly barred 

 with blackish; throat white or buffy white, bordered by conspicuous black 

 mustachios; cere, eyelids and feet yellow; bill bluish; claws black; iris dark 

 brown. Young: Brownish or dusky above, under parts more buffy or 

 ocherous, quite heavily streaked with blackish. 



Length cf about 17 inches; 9 19; extent 40-46; wing cf 11. 5-1 3, 

 9 13-15; tarsus i. 7-2.1. 



Distribution, This noble falcon is found throughout the United 



States and breeds from North Carolina and Mexico north to the Arctic 



coasts. It prefers the mountainous districts, occurring in New York along 



the Palisades, the Highlands, and the Adirondacks. Undoubtedly it is 



much more generally distributed than is commonly known, its seclusive 



habits and custom of traveling long distances on its foraging excursions 



often concealing the location of its home, or even the fact of its residence, 



from people who live in the immediate vicinity. Several pairs are known 



to nest in the Palisades and Highlands. I have found its eyrie on a 



spur of Mt Colvin overlooking the Lower Ausable lake where the guides 



of the Adirondack Mountain Reserve have known of its nesting for many 



years; also in a deep gorge near the Massachusetts line in Columbia county; 



