AD^'E^'TURES WITH BIRDS OF PREY 



133 



A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORTH TWO IN THE AIR, THINKS THE FALCON 



After an unsuccessful chase, the female pigeon hawk fiies back to John Craighead's glove to be 

 consoled with a dead starling. This pugnacious bird of pre_\' was captured by the authors in Minne- 

 sota, near the Canadian border. They named her "Lucifer." 



jority of the nests were constructed in the 

 topmost branches of swaying evergreen 

 trees, where it was imj^racticable to put 

 up a camera. The nest we finally decided 

 to photograph was on an island in a Minne- 

 sota lake, just this side of the Canadian 

 border (page 131). 



The pigeon hawks were very aggressive 

 and dived and screamed at us as we put 

 up our cameras on a near-by tree. The male 

 pigeon hawli, although hardly bigger than 

 a sparrow hawl^, hit the opened metal film 

 slide of our camera with his talons, bend- 

 ing it at right angles. The female struck 

 us so often on the head as she flew past 

 us that we ducked unconsciously every few 

 minutes while changing the films in the 

 cameras. 



One of our friends was struck on the leg 

 so hard that the hawk drew blood in spite 

 of heavy trousers. 



Being very pugnacious, the pigeon hawk 

 returned readily to the nest, even when 

 three cameras were placed six feet awav. 



The male did the hunting while the fe- 

 male perched near by, ready to protect her 

 young. 



The female usually fed the young, so 

 the male had to transfer his prev to her. 

 We saw this done in several ways. On 

 one occasion the male returned with a 

 small bird, transferred it from his feet 

 to his beak, and peiched on a spruce limb. 

 The female then flew past and took the 

 bird out of his beak with her feet while 

 flying, 



FOOD TRANSFERRED IN THE AIR 



At other times both birds would be in 

 the air when the transfer was made, \\'hen 

 the male returned with food we heard him 

 call to his mate while he was still invisible 

 to us across the lake. The female, on 

 hearing the call, flew over the lake and 

 the male then dropped the bird from above. 

 The female turned over in the air, caught 

 the bird, and carried it to the nest. At 

 times we saw these same hawks catch 



