192 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



perches, but we failed to discover any traces of its victims, save some feathers of 

 a Tree Sparrow which littered the surface of the snow under the tree in which 

 the Duck Hawk was sitting on the 22d. 



The other local instance has been communicated to me by Mr. O. A. 

 Lothrop who noted a Duck Hawk at Fresh Pond on October 26, 1899. This 

 bird was perched in the top of one of the oaks on the old Tudor estate. 



90. Falco columbarius Linn. 

 Pigeon Hawk. 



Rather common transient visitor in spring and autumn ; occasionally found in winter, also. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



April 23, 1894, one seen, Cambridge Region, W. Faxon. 



April 25 — May 5. 

 May 16, 1894, one female seen, East Lexington, W. Brewster. 



September 15, 1866, one im. taken, Belmont, C. M. Carter. 

 September 25 — October 20. (Winter.) 



For a bird of prey the Pigeon Hawk is a rather common and very regular 

 visitor to the Cambridge Region. Not that it ever occurs numerously or at fre- 

 quent intervals, but the observer who is much afield and who is able to distinguish 

 the bird from the Sparrow Hawk, which it closely resembles in form and flight, is 

 nearly sure to note it at least once or twice every spring and autumn. It is seen 

 oftenest in April and October, skimming swiftly over open fields and meadows or 

 sitting on the dead branch of some isolated tree that commands a good view of 

 the surrounding country. As a rule it does not remain perched for more than a 

 few minutes at a time. Indeed its life appears to be one of almost ceaseless 

 activity, for it is an eager and persistent hunter, tireless of wing and given to 

 roaming widely in its daily search for food. It sometimes comes boldly into 

 densely populated parts of Cambridge to prey on English Sparrows, usually in 

 winter or very late autumn when most of our smaller native birds, on which it 

 ordinarily depends for food, have departed for the south. I have known it to 

 appear, even within recent years, on Cambridge Common ; in the College Yard ; 

 at Norton's Woods ; and in our garden or its immediate neighborhood. In 1900 

 an adult male spent the entire month of December at Fresh Pond, making its 

 headquarters in the hemlock grove where the Duck Hawk was seen in January, 

 1893. 



