THE CANADIAN 8P0RTSMAN AM- tfATURALISl. 



THE BIRDS OF PREY OF .NOVA SCOTIA. 



BY J. BERNARD GILPIN, A. It., M.D., M.R.O.B. 



These markings do not accord with the 



bright chestnut red with no bars, of ours, 

 excepting the broad subterminal one. At the 

 same time, Mr. Down9 kept in confinemenl 

 for several years a pair of red-tails which 

 always kept the brownish bars on brownish 

 red-tails, resembling Richardson's. Thus we 

 have this buzzard in two (onus. The warm 

 southern form of Wilson and the paler arctic 

 one of Richardson. The specimens in the 

 Halifax Museum and private collections are 

 all young birds, but agree exactly to Richard- 

 son's description in bill, length of primaries 

 and legs and feet. I kept one <>l the soul hern 

 forms in confinement tin- several years. The 

 second year he lost the brown "tail* of the 

 immature bird and developed a bright chest- 

 nutone. I fed him upon livers and raw meat, 

 which he received on his bill, but immediately 

 transferred to his feet, tearing it, from which 

 he fed. On giving him a dead bird he instantly 

 became excited, spreading out his wings and 

 tail and bending over it, with erect crest and 

 head plumage, as it was fixed to his perch by 

 his claws. He usually tore the sides open. 

 thrusting in his hooked bill and drawing out 

 the intestines. His blood stained bill and 

 feathers, with his continuous, guttural, angry 

 cries, and piercing eye underneath its bony 

 brow, showed for the time he was no poor 

 captive tied with a string. The fish hawk 

 (P. haliwlus) stands out from the family so 

 broadly that he almost deserves a family alone. 

 Eagles are admitted carrion eaters, and (here 

 are ugly stories told about the noblest falcon, 

 of preying on vermin and dead animals. He, 

 of all, kills his prey. Should he drop a fish 

 from his claws, his instincts are never to 

 pick it up. His limbs are muscular to the 

 extreme, scarcely covered by the shortest 

 feathers, and his legs and claws immense for 

 his size; the joints are so loose in their articu- 

 lation as to have a side motion, and the tors 

 SO adjusted that they may work in pairs, like 

 the parrots, two before and two behind; the 

 proper hind toe small, in this particular 

 approaching the owl. The very peculiar scales 

 they are covered with, and the roughness of 

 the sole, still further recedes it from the typical 

 foot, of the FALCONlDiE. They breed in our 

 forest some miles from the sea, but do not 

 winter with us. He may be seen regularly 

 hunting our estuaries and forest lakes. Now 



Btone into the water, un 



a li-h in hi 



the forest. I m 



beneath the water, a> ev< rytl 



by the splash ol wat 



jerted thai he does, bj 

 and by the practical observt r. It u 



very powerful bird to rifle load. I 



th<' wave. The rising nun caught mi 



the bills ol Si. Clements, one • 



long night ride. Tie- air wa* fill. i| 



screeches, and I nearly broke m\ back i 



ing in my saddle till I saw rigl 



a fish haw k hca\ ilv laden with it I 



claw.- and a bald-headed eagle continu 



soaring above and pouncing down upon 



back. In a moment the fish i 



falling, the level beams of the i 



ing it with silver. Tin- eagl 



stone beneath it, catching it on ii- uptu 



claws, ami flapped away, whilst the |««.r 

 plundered hawk was heard 



alter out ol sight. Tie' 



upon our list. The golden eagle ( I 



/».>>■). the eagle of the ancients, the hit . 



remains the whole year, and nests witl 



They are more rare than the bald- 

 pair dominating ovei a verj wide country. 1 

 have seen tour, three ol them alive, taken in 

 traps, the fourth killed by a woman in I'. 

 County. One in captivity was a verj I - >1< I 

 bird, attacking everybody that approached 

 him with his claws. This attack was - 

 that a calfskin boot would have soon 

 torn from your foot. The bold grandetll 

 its massive head, supported by a neck arched 

 like a horse and adorned by shining and 



golden hackles, imposed itsell upon you as the 



type of force and pride; ant yet hi' 

 trapped. He was seeking dead meal, which 

 he devours as well as carrion. In beauty and 

 severity o\' expression he far surpasses the 

 bald-head (/■'. leucocephalus), the on I j other 

 eagle we have- Though he will eat 

 and gorge himsell over the carcase ol a dead 

 horse: though he will enter your gardens, and 

 striken pea fowl or Brahma pullet: yet he 

 adds dead and stranded fish to his lav 

 Hence his abundance, ami his fatness. He 

 remains till year with irs, especially about the 

 slu res ol' the Hay ol Fnndy. building his 

 sometimes in trees, at Other times on 

 rocks. As usual, the perfect .adults with milk- 

 white tail and head are lew in COinpar - 

 with the brown and Splotched whll 



