PIGEON HAWK. 89 



white, and from two to four in number, as well as the situation of its nest, 

 as given in his Notes on the Hudson's Bay Birds, is greatly at variance with 

 my own observations. The eggs in three instances, which occurred at 

 Labrador, were five; they measured an inch and three-quarters in length, 

 an inch and a quarter in breadth, and were rather elongated; their ground 

 colour a dull yellowish-brown, thickly clouded with irregular blotches of 

 dull dark reddish-brown. In that country they are laid about the first of 

 June. In the beginning of July I found five in a nest that were ready to be 

 hatched. The nests were placed on the top branches of the low firs peculiar 

 to that country, about ten or twelve feet from the ground, and were composed 

 of sticks, slightly lined with moss and a few feathers. At this season the 

 old birds evinced great concern respecting their eggs or young, remaining 

 about them, and shewing all the tokens of anger and vexation which other 

 courageous species exhibit on similar occasions. The young are at first 

 covered with yellowish down; but I had no opportunity of watching their 

 progress, as all that were taken on board the Ripley died in a few days. 

 This species also breeds in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 



A male from the Texas. Length to end of tail 13^ inches, to end of 

 wings 11 T 5 2, to end of claws 1 1^2 ; extent of wings 26. 



The mouth resembles that of the other Falcons; its breadth yjths. The 

 tongue is short, -f^ths long, fleshy, deeply emarginate and papillate at the 

 base, broadly grooved above, the tip rounded and slightly emarginate. The 

 oesophagus is 4-| inches long, its width at the upper part half an inch. The 

 stomach is very large, round, 1|- inches in diameter, with a very thin mus- 

 cular coat; its central tendons y^ths in diameter. The proventriculus is y^ths 

 long; its glands very numerous, and cylindrical. The intestine is 26|- inches 

 long, yjths in its greatest diameter. There are merely two slight indi- 

 cations of cceca; and the cloaca is globular, with a diameter of 1 inch. 



The trachea is 2§ inches long, a little flattened; the rings 58, well ossified; 

 its breadth at the upper part y^ths, at the lower y^ths. The contractor 

 muscles cover the anterior surface entirely in the upper third, and are of 

 moderate strength, as are the sterno-tracheales; a pair of inferior laryngeal 

 muscles going to the membrane between the last tracheal and first bronchial 

 half ring. The bronchial half rings are 15 and 18. 



Pigeon Hawk, Falco columbarius, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 107. 



Falco columbarius, Bonap. Syn., p. 38. 



Pigeon Hawk, Falco columbarius, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 60. 



Little Corporal Hawk, Falco temerarius, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 61. Adult Male. 



Falco columbarius, Pigeon Hawk, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 35. 



Falco jEsalon, Merlin, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 37. 



Pigeon Hawk, Falco columbarius, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 466; Young, vol. i. p. 381, 



Male; vol. v. p. 368. 

 Vol. I. 14 



