GREAT-FOOTED HAWK. 



121 



with the assurance of a great reward if they procured him, but 

 without success. At length in the month of December, 1812, to 

 the unspeakable joy of Mr. Wilson, he received from Egg-harbor 

 a fine specimen of the far-famed Duck Hawk ; which was disco- 

 vered, contrary to his expectations, to be of a species which he 

 had never before beheld. 



If we were to repeat all the anecdotes which have been re- 

 lated to us of the achievements of the Duck Hawk, they would 

 swell our pages at the expense, probably, of our reputation. Natu- 

 ralists should be always on their guard when they jfind themselves 

 compelled to resort to the observations of others, and record no- 

 thing as fact which has not been submitted to the temperate deli- 

 berations of reason. The reverse of this procedure has been a 

 principal cause why errors and absurdities have so frequently de- 

 formed the pages of works of science, which, like a plane mirror, 

 ought to reflect only the genuine images of nature. 



From the best sources of information, we learn that this spe- 

 cies is uncommonly bold and powerful ; that it darts on its prey 

 with astonishing velocity ; and that it strikes with its formidable 

 feet, permitting the duck to fall previously to securing it. The 

 circumstance of the Hawk's never carrying the duck off on strik- 

 ing it, has given rise to the belief of that service being performed 

 by means of the breast, which vulgar opinion has armed with a 

 projecting bone, adapted to the purpose. But this cannot be the 

 fact, as the breast bone of this bird does not differ from that of 

 others of the same tribe, which would not admit of so violent a 

 concussion. 



When the water fowl perceive the approach of their enemy, 

 an universal alarm pervades their ranks; even man himself, with 

 his engine of destruction, is not more terrible. But the effect is 

 different. When the latter is beheld, the whole atmosphere is 

 enlivened with the whistling of wings; when the former is recog- 



VOL. IX. H h 



