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PIGEON HAWK. 



" 'Safe sits his brooding mate, her guardian, he, 

 Perched on the top of some tall, neighboring tree ; 

 Thence, from the thicket to the concave skies, 

 His watchful eye around unceasing flies. 

 Wrens, Thrushes, Warblers, startled at his note, 

 Fly in a fright the consecrated spot. 

 He drives the plundering Jay with honest scorn 

 Back to his woods, the mocker to his thorn ; 

 Sweeps 'round the Cuckoo as the thief retreats ; 

 Attacks the Crow, the daring Hawk defeats ; 

 Darts on the Eagle downward from afar, 

 And 'midst the clouds, prolongs the whirling war. 

 All danger o'er, he hastens back elate, 

 To guard his post, and feed his faithful mate. 



" ' Behold him now, his little family flown ; 

 Meek, unassuming, silent, and alone. 

 Lured by the well-known hum of favorite bees, 

 As low he hovers o'er the garden trees, 

 (For all have failings, passions, whims that lead, 

 Some favorite wish, some appetite to feed,) 

 Straight he alights, and from the pear-tree spies 

 The circling stream of humming insects rise; 

 Selects his prey, darts on the busy brood, 

 And shrilly twitters o'er his savory food. 



" 'Ah ! ill-timed triumph ! direful note to thee, 

 That guides thy murderer to the fatal tree. 

 See where he skulks ! and takes his gloomy stand, 

 The deep-charged musket hanging in his hand ; 

 And, gaunt for blood, he leans it on a rest, 

 Prepared, and pointed at thy snow-white breast. 

 Ah ! friend, good friend, forbear that barbarous deed ; 

 Against it valor, goodness, pity plead. 

 If e'er a family's griefs, a widow's woe, 

 Have reached thy soul, in mercy let him go ! 

 Yet, should the tear of pity naught avail, 

 Let interest speak, let gratitude prevail. 

 Kill not tlry friend, who thy whole harvest shields, 

 And sweeps ten thousand vermin from thy fields. 

 Think how this dauntless bird, thy poultry's guard, 

 Drove every Hawk and Eagle from thy yard ; 

 Watched round the cattle as they fed, and slew 

 The hungry blackening swarms that round them flew. 



The Pigeon Hawk. (Falco Columbarius.) 



Fig. 3, Female. Fig. 4, Male. 



This spirited little Hawk, excepting in size, resembles very 

 closely the famed Peregrine Falcon. 



Dr. Elliott Coues describes this species as follows : 



"Adult male : above, ashy-blue, sometimes almost blackish, 

 sometimes much paler ; below, pale fulvous, or ochraceous, whit- 

 ish on the throat ; the breasts and sides with large oblong dark- 

 brown spots, with black shaft lines ; the tibiae reddish, streaked 

 with brown ; inner webs of primaries with about eight transverse 

 white or whitish spots ; tail tipped with white, and with the outer 

 feather whitening, with a broad subterminal black zone and three 

 or four black bands alternating with whitish ; cere, greenish yel- 

 low ; feet, yellow. Female, with the upper parts ashy-brown ; 

 the tail with four or five indistinct whitish bands ; about thirteen — 

 wing, eight; tail, five." 



Says Audubon : 



"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 Columbia river. Dr. Rich- 

 ardson mentions it as not uncommon about York Factory, in 

 latitude 57 degrees, 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 degrees, which may 

 have been a male as small as the one represented in my 

 plate. I found it very abundant in Texas early in May, when 

 I shot as many as five on a small island in a short time." 

 Nuttall remarks of this bird : 



" It is shy, skulking, and watchful, seldom venturing beyond 

 the unreclaimed forest, and flies rapidly, but, I believe, seldom 

 soars or hovers. Small birds or mice constitute his principal 

 food. . . . Sometimes, when shot at without effect, he will fly 

 in circles around the gunner, and utter impatient shrieks, proba- 

 bly in apprehension for the safety of his mate, or to communicate 

 a cry of alarm." 

 Wilson writes : 



"This small Hawk possesses great spirit and rapidity of 

 flight. He is generally migratory in the Middle and Northern 

 States, arriving in Pennsylvania early in spring, and extending 

 his migrations as far north as Hudson's Bay. After building and 

 rearing his young, he retires to the South early in November. . . . 

 When the Reed-birds, Grakles, and Red-winged Blackbirds 

 congregate in large flights, he is often observed hovering in 

 their rear, or on their flanks, picking up the weak, the wounded, 

 or stragglers, and frequently making a sudden and fatal sweep 

 into the very midst of their multitudes. The flocks of Robins 

 and Pigeons are honored with the same attentions from this 

 marauder, whose daily excursions are entirely regulated by the 

 movements of the great body on whose unfortunate members he 

 fattens. 



"I can not, in imitation of European naturalists, embellish the 

 history of this species with anecdotes of its exploits in falconry. 

 This science, if it may be so called, is among the few that have 

 never yet traveled across the Atlantic. Neither does it appear 

 that the idea of training our Hawks or Eagles to the chase 

 ever suggested itself to any of the Indian nations of North 

 America. The Tartars, however, from whom, according to 

 certain writers, many of these nations originated, have long ex- 

 celled in the practice of this sport, which is indeed better suited to 

 an open country than to one covered with forests. Though once 

 so honorable and universal, it is now much disused in Europe, and 

 in Britain is nearly extinct." 



The Pigeon Hawk is from eleven to twelve, and sometimes 

 found thirteen inches long, and about twenty-three inches broad. 

 The whole upper parts, except the tail, are of a dark brown ; the 

 tail is crossed with bars of lighter color, and tipped with dirty- 

 white ; the quill-feathers are still darker brown, almost black, 

 and near their tips seamed with dull white — their inner vanes 

 marked with rounded spots of light reddish brown ; the bill 

 is proportionately strong, short, and stoutly toothed, and is of a 

 light bluish color, black toward the tip ; the naked skin surround- 

 ing the eyes is greenish, as is also the cere ; the temples, and a 

 barely perceptible line over the eye, are light brown. The lower 

 parts are of a light yellowish brown, or a brownish white, and 

 streaked with dark brown ; toward the femoral feathers these 

 streaks take more the shape of arrow-heads. The feet and legs 

 are yellow, the claws bluish black; the wings are long, reach- 

 ing, when closed, within an inch of the tip of the tail ; the second 

 and third of the primaries are the largest, and of the same length ; 

 the iris is a bright, deep hazel color. The female is usually an 

 inch and a half longer than the male, and of a deeper color; 

 otherwise it is marked in the same manner as the male. From 

 the corner of the mouth in both, a somewhat darker line runs 

 toward the shoulders, bearing some similarity to that which char- 

 acterizes the Peregrine Falcon. 



The nest of this little filibuster is built in different places : some- 

 times in the hollow of a tree ; on the top of an old stump, some 

 fifteen or twenty feet above the ground ; in the hollow of a rock, 

 and on the branches of a tree near the trunk. It consists of small 

 branches, twigs, thin Sticks, fibrous roots, and dry grass, and lined 



