82 THE GAME FALCONS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
tached to each foot, on the 24th of September, 1772, and was 
killed on the morning of the 26th near Mostyn, Flintshire. 
They live to a great age. In 1793, one was caught at the Cape 
of Good Hope, and brought to England with a golden collar about 
its neck, with the date 1610, and an inscription indicating that it 
belonged to James I. of England. This falcon must have been 
at least one hundred and eighty-three years old, yet it still ap- - 
peared lively, but its eyes were dim, and the feathers about the 
collar were changed to white. 
It seldom is seen sailing like most other hawks, but either as- 
cends with a broad spiral circle till it gains ‘a suitable height to se- 
lect its prey, or perches upon a tree that overlooks some swampy 
ground where snipe and rail abound, and darts down upon its 
game with such swiftness that destruction is inevitable. If the 
bird is too heavy to fly with, it is forced to the ground, otherwise 
it is carried to the woods and devoured at leisure. In the vicinity 
of their breeding places they are a terror to the poultry as well as 
a dread to the farmer, for there they usually hunt in pairs, one fol- 
lowing directly after the other, and if the first one misses the 
game, the other is sure to pick it up; there is no escaping the two. 
This is the universal testimony of all the farmers living in the 
vicinity of the cliffs where they breed. One of my collectors 
went over one hundred miles to get a nest of their eggs, from only 
hearing a farmer in the vicinity of a cliff describe their manner of 
hunting ; knowing from this circumstance alone, that it must be 
the duck hawk. ; 
It is stated “ that it preys chiefly upon sea-ducks, and therefore 
is, for the most part, met with on the coast, —is rarely found in- 
land, and its migrations and wanderings are influenced by the 
flight of its favorite game.” This was not the experience of Wil 
son and Ord along the coast of New Jersey. ‘To behold this 
hero, the terror of the wild fowl and the wonder of the sportsman, 
~ was the chief object of our wishes. Day after day did we traverse 
the salt marshes, and explore the ponds and estuaries, which 
the web-footed tribes frequent in immense multitudes, in the 
hope of obtaining the imperial depredator ; even all the gunners 
of the district were summoned to our aid, with the assurance of a 
great reward if they procured him, but without success.” Some 
time after this, Mr. Wilson received a specimen from Egg Harbor- 
Most of the observations made on this continent relative to the 
