Concord Mass.
1896
Nov. 21
(No. 2)
of seeing him extend his legs to seize his victim.
[delete][?][/delete]To my surprise he did not show so much
as the tips of his talons but, on overtaking the
Pigeon he seemed to strike it with his breast, half
upsetting it and sending it a yard or more downward
before it could recover its equilibrium. Then setting
his wings he scaled off swiftly towards the Estabrook
woods - the direction whence he had first come -
leaving the Pigeon to pursue its way unmolested,
at a lower level, to its home in the Derby barn.
What did it all mean? Was the Falcon merely
amusing himself or was he too slow or clumsy to
strike the Pigeon when apparently he had only to use
his talons to make it his prize? I have repeatedly
seen the Duck Hawk and the Pigeon Hawk, as 
well as other Hawks, fail in a similar way.
On some occasions I have thought that, like this
Gyrfalcon, they were not really in earnest; on
others they appeared to lack the skill and quickness
necessary to secure their victims when the latter
were brought fairly within reach. Of one thing I
am convinced viz. that nearly if not all our
birds of prey including the Shrike lack persistance
in the chase. If they fail in the first swoop they
frequently will not attempt a second & I have very
rarely seen one of them try more than three times
in succession. I am satisfied, also, that few of them
get on this average more than one bird in four
or five that they pursue. Cooper's Hawk is probably
an exception to this rule. He is certainly the 
deadliest fellow of them all.
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