140 ~ BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



The nest is an immense sti'ucture, often 5 or 6 feet in 

 diameter and nearly as high, placed in or near the top of a tall 

 tree, usually a pine. The eggs are laid in winter, from Decem- 

 ber to February. 



Food habits. — The food of this eagle is chiefly fish, taken 

 both dead and alive. In addition, it captures such larger 

 birds as ducks and coots, and many small mammals, including 

 opossums, raccoons, rabbits, rats, and mice. Dr. Ralph found 

 in a nest examined in Florida the remains of 13 coots (Fulica 

 amerieana) , and states that in that region the eagles were 

 living largely on waterfowl, though occasionally taking fish. 

 The birds occasionally prey upon the young of domestic ani- 

 mals, notably lambs and pigs.* Dr. G. Clyde Fisher states 

 that they are accused of killing sheep in the region about 

 Florala, and many have been poisoned during the past few 

 years by sheep owners in that section.f 



FALCONS, ETC.: Family Falconidae. 



DUCK HAWK: Rhynchodon peregrinus anatum 

 (Bonaparte) .% 



State records. — The duck hawk occurs rarely as a migrant 

 and winter resident and a few pairs still breed in the high 

 cliffs along the Tennessee River (PI. IV, fig. 1). Writing 

 from Greensboro, in 1890, Dr. Avery says of this bird : "Rare. 

 Generally seen in autumn and winter, in the wake of the wild 

 duck."** He describes the capture of a tame pigeon by one 

 of these birds, and in an earlier paper mentions having seen 

 duck hawks on several different occasions at Greensboro and 

 describes their capture of a killdeer and their pursuit of a 

 quail and of a black duck.*t Two specimens were collected 

 by him, September 10, 1886, at Greensboro, and one was seen, 

 September 21, 1892, at Little Lagoon, Baldwin County. F. W. 

 McCormack tells me that in former years he used frequently 

 to see a pair of duck hawks about the steep bluffs on the 



•See Oberholser, H. C, Biol. Surv. Bull. 27, 1906. 

 tWilson Bulletin, vol. 20, p. 65, 1908. 



iFaIco peregrinus anatum of the A. O. U. Check-list; for change of name see The 

 Auk. vol. 35, p. 207, 1918. 



♦•Am. Field, vol. 34, p. 607, 1890. 

 •torn, and Ool., vol. 12, pp. 74-75, 1887. 



