680 5 GREAT-FOOTED ITAWK. 
tional evidence of the fact, we ourselves have seen it prowling near 
. the coast of New Jersey, in the month of May, and heard its screams, 
which resemble somewhat those of the Bald Eagle, in the swamps 
wherein it is said to breed. We have therefore taken the liberty of 
changing its English name. for one which will at oncé express a char- 
acteristic designation, or which will indicate the species without the 
labor of investigation.* one : 
“ This species,” says Pennant, “breeds on the rocks of Llandidno, 
im Caernarvonshire, Wales.t That promontory lias been long famed 
for producing a generous kind, as appears by a letter, extant in Glod- 
daeth Library, from the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, to an ancestor of Sir 
Roger Mostyn, in which his lordship thanks him for a present ofa fine 
cast of Hawks, taken on those rocks, which belong to the family. They 
are also very common in the north of Scotland, and are sometimes 
trained for falconry, by some few gentlemen who still take delight in 
this amusement, inthat part of Great Britain. Their flight is amazing- 
ly rapid; one, that was reclaimed by a gentleman in the shire of An- 
gus, a county on the east side of Scotland, eloped from its master 
with two heavy bells attached to each foot, on. the 24th September, 
1772, and was killed in the morning of the 26th, near Mostyn, Flint- 
shire.” ¢ : ot ely 
The same naturalist in another place observes, that “ The American 
species is larger than the European.§ They are subjett 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. j 
“Jnhabits different 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.” || ; 
In the breeding season, the Duck Hawk retires to the recesses of 
the gloorny cedar swamps, on the tall trees of which it constructs its 
nests, 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 hooting of the Great-horned Owl, echoing through’ 
the dreary solitude, arouse in the imagination all the frightful imagery 
of desolation. Mr. 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 subject of this chapter; and although they 
were ae in obtaining the former, yet the latter eluded their 
researc. : 
* “ Specific names,-to be perfect, ought to express some peculiarity, common to 
no other of the genus.” — Am. Orn. i. p. 65. 
_ + We suspect that Pennant is mistaken ; its name denotes that it is not indigenous 
in Great Britain. Bewick says, “The peregrine, or passenger Falcon, is rarely 
met with in Britain, and consequently is but little known with us.” — British Birds, 
art 1. : 
. } British Zoology. : 
§ If we were to adopt the mode of philosophizing of the sapient Coun de 
Buffon, we should infer that the European species is a tariety of our more gene: nus 
race, degenerated by the influence of food and climate! ‘ 
|| Arctic Zoology: 
