88 PIGEON HAWK. 



Great-footed Hawk, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ix. p. 120. 



Falco peregrinus, Bonap. Syn., p. 27. 



Common or Wandering Falcon, Falco peregrinus, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 53. 



Great-footed Hawk, Falco peregrinus, Aud. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 85; vol. v. p. 365. 



Falco peregrinus, Peregrine Falcon, Swains. & Rieh., F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 23. 



Bill blackish-blue at the tip, pale green at the base, cere oil-green; bare 

 orbital space orange. Iris hazel. Feet lemon-yellow; claws brownish-black. 

 Head and hind neck greyish-black, tinged with blue; the rest of the upper 

 parts dark bluish-grey, indistinctly barred with deep brown. Quills blackish- 

 brown, the inner webs marked with transverse elliptical spots of reddish- 

 white. Tail greyish-brown, marked with about twelve bars, the last of 

 which is broad, the rest diminishing in size and intensity of tint. Throat 

 and fore-neck white; a broad band of blackish-blue from the angle of the 

 mouth downwards; cheeks whitish-grey; sides, breast and thighs reddish- 

 white, transversely marked with dark brown spots in longitudinal series. 

 Under wing feathers whitish, transversely barred. 



Length 16-^ inches; extent of wings 30; bill 1^ along the ridge; tarsus 1^, 

 middle toe 2\. 



As the bird gets old, the colours of the upper parts acquire a lighter tint 

 in the male, and sometimes the back is ash-grey; but in the female, they 

 gradually assume a deeper hue. 



PIGEON HAWK. 



Falco columbarius, Linn. 

 PLATE XXI.— Male and Female. 



The Pigeon Hawk ranges very extensively over the United States, and 

 extends its migrations far beyond their limits on either side. Mr. Townsend 

 found it on the Rocky Mountains, as well as along the shores of the Colum- 

 bia River. Dr. Richardson mentions it as not uncommon about York 

 Factory, in latitude 57°, and it is not improbable that it wanders farther, as 

 he speaks of having seen a small hawk on the north shore of Great Bear 

 Lake, in latitude 66°, which may have been a male as small as the one 

 represented in my plate. I found it very abundant in the Texas early in 

 May, when I shot as many as five on a small island in a short time. 



Mr. Hutchins's description of the eggs of this bird, which he says are 



