HARLAN'S BUZZARD. 39 



perched on the top of a high belted tree in an erect and commanding attitude. 

 It looked so like the Black Hawk (Falco niger) of Wilson, that I appre- 

 hended what I had heard respecting it might prove incorrect. I approached 

 it, however, when, as if it suspected my evil intentions, it flew off, but after 

 at first sailing as if with the view of escaping from me, passed over my head, 

 when I shot at it, and brought it winged to the ground. No sooner had I 

 inspected its eye, its bill, and particularly its naked legs, than I felt assured 

 that it was, as had been represented by those persons who had spoken to me 

 of its exploits, a new species. I drew it whilst alive; but my intentions of 

 preserving it and carrying it to England as a present to the Zoological Socie- 

 ty were frustrated by its refusing food. It died in a few days, when I pre- 

 served its skin, which, along with those of other rare birds, I have since 

 given to the British Museum, through my friend J. G. Children, Esq. of 

 that institution. 



A few days afterwards I saw the male bird perched on the same tree, but 

 was unable to approach him so long as I had a gun, although he frequently 

 allowed me and my wife to pass close to the foot of the tree when we were 

 on horseback and unarmed. I followed it in vain for nearly a fortnight, 

 from one field to another, and from tree to tree, until our physician, Dr. 

 John B. Hereford, knowing my great desire to obtain it, shot it in the 

 wing with a rifle ball, and sent it alive to me. It was still wilder than the 

 female, erected the whole of the feathers of its head, opened its bill, and was 

 ever ready to strike with its talons at any object brought near it. I made 

 my drawing of the male also while still alive. 



This species, although considerably smaller than the Red-tailed Hawk, to 

 which it is allied, is superior to it in flight and daring. Its flight is rapid, 

 greatly protracted, and so powerful as to enable it to seize its prey with ap- 

 parent ease, or effect its escape from its stronger antagonist, the Red-tail, 

 which pursues it on all occasions. 



The Black Warrior has been seen to pounce on a fowl, kill it almost in- 

 stantly, and afterwards drag it along the ground for several hundred yards, 

 when it would conceal it, and return to feed upon it in security. It was not 

 observed to fall on Hares or Squirrels, but at all times evinced a marked 

 preference for common Poultry, Partridges, and the smaller species of Wild 

 Duck. 



I was told that the young birds appeared to be of a leaden-gray colour at a 

 distance, but at the approach of winter became as dark as the parents. None 

 of them were to be seen at the time when I procured the latter. Of its nest 

 or eggs nothing is yet known. My friends Messrs. Johnson and Carpen- 

 ter frequently spoke of this Hawk to me immediately after my return to 

 Louisiana from Europe, which took place in November 1829. 



