26 GREAT-FOOTED HAWK. 



species is larger than the European.* They are subject to vary. The 

 Black Falcon, and the Spotted Falcon, of Edwards, are of this kind ; 

 each preserves a specific mark, in the black stroke which drops from 

 beneath- the eyes, down towards the neck. 



" Inhabits diflFerent parts of North America, from Hudson's Bay as 

 low as Carolina. In Asia, is found on the highest parts of the Uralian 

 and Siberian chain. Wanders in summer to the very Arctic circle. Is 

 common in Kamtschatka."f 



Low says, that this species is found in all the head-lands, and other 

 inaccessible rocks, of Orkney. " It is the falcon, or more noble species 

 of hawk, which was formerly so much coveted, and brought from Ork- 

 ney. In the Burgh of Birsa I observed the dark-colored kind, so beau- 

 tifully engraved in the additional volume of the British Zoology. It is 

 likewise found in Marwick-head, Hoy, Walls, Copinsha, and elsewhere 

 in Orkney ; likewise in the Fair Isle and Foula ; as also in Lamhoga of 

 Fetlor, Fitful, and Sumburgh-Heads of Shetland. 



" Never more than one pair of this species inhabit the same rock ; 

 and when the young are fit, they are driven out to seek new habitations 

 for themselves. The Falcon's nest, like the Eagle's, is always in the 

 very same spot, and continues so past memory of man."| 



In the breeding season, the Duck Hawk Retires to the recesses of the 

 gloomy cedar swamps, on the tall trees of which it Constructs its nest, 

 and rears its young, secure from all molestation. In those wilds, which 

 present obstacles almost insuperable to the foot of man, the screams of 

 this bird, occasionally mingled with the hoarse tones of the Heron, and 

 the hootings of the Great-horned Owl, echoing through the dreary soli- 

 tude, arouse in the imagination all the frightful imagery of desolation. 

 Wilson, and the writer of this article, explored two-of these swamps, in 

 the month of May, 1813, in pursuit of the Great Heron, and the sub- 

 ject of this chapter ; and although they were successful in obtaining the 

 former, yet the latter eluded their research. 



The Great-footed Hawk is twenty inches in length, and three feet 

 eight inches in breadth ; the bill is inflated, short and strong, of a light 

 blue color, ending in black, the upper mandible with a tooth-like process, 

 the lower with a corresponding notch, and truncate ; nostrils round, 

 with a central point like the pistil of a flower ; the Qyes are large, irides 

 of a dark brown ; cere and orbits pale bluish white ; the cartilage over 

 the eyes prominent ; frontlet whitish ; the head above, cheeks and back, 



* If we were to adopt the mode of philosophizing of the Count de Buffon, we 

 should infer that the European species is a variety of our more generous race, de- 

 generated by the influence of food and climate I 



t Arctic Zoology. 



X Low's Natural History of the Quadrupeds, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes, of 0-k 

 ney and Shetland ; published by William Elford Leach, M. D., 4to. 1813. 



