74 WINTER FALCON. 



This is a dexterous frog catcher ; who, that he may pursue 



his profession with full effect, takes up his winter residence 



ponderance of their form to the goshawks, I have chosen that as their 

 present appellation, but certainly with a query. 



I have transcribed the habits of both species as given by Audubon, 

 that the comparison may be the more easy, and at the description of F. 

 lineatus have referred to this page : — 



"The winter hawk is not a constant resident in the United States, 

 but merely visits them, making its first appearance there at the approach 

 of winter. The flight is smooth and light, although greatly protracted, 

 when necessity requires it to be so. It sails, at times, at a considerable 

 elevation ; and, notwithstanding the comparative shortness of its wings, 

 performs this kind of motion with grace, and in circles of more than 

 ordinary diameter. It is a remarkably silent bird, often spending the 

 greater part of the day without uttering its notes more than once or 

 twice, which it does just before it alights, to watch with great patience 

 and perseverance for the appearance of its prey. Its haunts are the 

 extensive meadows and marshes which occur along our rivers. There 

 it pounces with a rapid motion on the frogs, which it either devours on 

 the spot, or carries to the perch, or the top of the hay-stack, on which 

 it previously stood. It generally rests at night on the ground, among 

 the tall sedges of the marshes. I have never seen this hawk in pursuit 

 of any other birds than those of its own species, each individual chasing 

 the others from the district which it had selected for itself. The cry of the 

 winter hawk is clear and prolonged, and resembles the syllables kay-o." 



" The red-shouldered hawk, or, as I would prefer calling it, the red- 

 breasted hawk, although dispersed over the greater part of the United 

 States, is rarely observed in the middle districts, where, on the contrary, 

 the winter falcon usually makes its appearance from the north at the 

 approach of every autumn, and is of more common occurrence. This 

 bird is one of the most noisy of its genus, during spring especially, 

 when it would be difficult to approach the skirts of woods bordering a 

 large plantation, without hearing its discordant shrill notes, ka-hee, ka- 

 - it is seen sailing in rapid circles at a very great elevation. Its 

 ordinary flight is even and protracted. It is a more general inhabitant of 

 the woods than most of our other species, particularly during the summer. 



" The interior of woods seems, as I have said, the fittest haunts for 

 the red-shouldered hawk. He sails through them a few yards above 

 the ground, and suddenly alights on the low branch of a tree, or the 

 top of a dead stump, from which he silently watches in an erect posture 

 for the appearance of squirrels, upon which he pounces directly, and 

 kills them in an instant, afterwards devouring them on the ground. 



" At the approach of spring, this species begins to pair, and its flight 

 is accompanied with many circlings and zigzag motions, during which 



