2S HARRIS'S BUZZARD. 



Hawks, as well as their elongated and padded toes, are of considerable assist- 

 ance in securing their prey on wing, as they throw these members to the 

 right and left, upward or downward, when about to come into contact with 

 the object of their pursuit. In boldness and ferocity they probably surpass 

 all other birds of prey. 



The next race is composed of the species called "True Falcons," of which 

 we have the Jer Falcon, Falco Islandicus, the Peregrine Falcon, F. Pere- 

 grinus, the Pigeon Hawk, F. Columbarius, and the Sparrow Hawk, F. 

 Sparverius. These birds are probably the most highly organized of the 

 series. Their wings are pointed and somewhat broad; their tail is not only 

 considerably elongated, but has a firmness and elasticity not seen in that of 

 the other species. While in Eagles and other sluggish birds of prey, the 

 motions of the wings are slow, in the species now under consideration they 

 are strong and quickly repeated. They moreover possess the power of 

 swooping in a higher degree than even the Eagles, for although much smaller 

 birds, they are if any thing still more compactly formed, whilst they are at 

 the same time endowed with at least a fair power of flight, so that they give 

 chase to the swiftest birds, and not unfrequently overtake and destroy them. 

 In their migrations they differ from the slow-flying species, which seldom 

 remove far from the place of their birth, for they appear to delight in follow- 

 ing the myriads of the feathered tribes from which they have derived their 

 subsistence during summer in the northern regions, to those southern coun- 

 tries in which they are sure of obtaining an ample supply, each species 

 pursuing those on which it more usually preys. Thus, some, as the Pere- 

 grine Falcon, will remove as far as the confines of Mexico or the extreme 

 portions of California. The Jer Falcon, which mostly feeds on hares and 

 grous, belonging to northern countries, and which of course migrate south- 

 ward to a very short extent, rarely advances far; while the Pigeon Hawk, as 

 daring as the Peregrine, follows the Red-wings, Rice Birds, and other small 

 migratory species, with a pertinacity not in the least surpassed by that of the 

 Peregrine Falcon itself. 



The group of our American birds of prey of which the species differ most 

 strikingly from the rest, contains the Bird of Washington, Falco Washing- 

 tonii, the White-headed Eagle, F. leacocephalus, and the Fishing Hawk or 

 Osprey, F. Ossifragus. Looking upon these three species as more or less 

 connected in respect to their general habits, while each of them differs from 

 the rest, I hope you will excuse me, reader, if I now take a glance at them 

 separately. He who generalizes at random might perhaps be induced to 

 compare the Fishing Hawk to nothing else than a very large and clumsy 

 Tern, for like most birds of that group, it is known to range in a desultory 

 manner over the waters of our bays and estuaries, and along the shores of 



