GREAT-FOOTED HAWK. 
31 
to be in danger from its attacks, it having been known to sa- 
crifice them to its rapacity. 
To behold this hero, the terror of the wild fowl, and the 
wonder of the sportsmen, was the chief object of our wishes. 
Day after day did we traverse the salt marshes, and explore 
the ponds and estuaries, where the web-footed tribes assemble 
in immense multitudes, in the hope of obtaining the imperial 
depredator; even all the shooters of the district were summon- 
ed to our aid, with the assurance of a great reward if they pro- 
cured him, but without success. At length, in the month of 
December, 1812, to the unspeakable joy of Wilson, he receiv- 
ed from Egg-harbour a fine specimen of the far-famed Duck 
Hawk; which was discovered, 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. 
Naturalists should be always on their guard when they find 
themselves compelled to resort to the observations of others; 
and record nothing as fact, which has not been submitted to 
the temperate deliberations of reason. The neglect of this pro- 
cedure has been a principal cause, why errors and absurdities 
have so frequently deformed the pages of works of science, 
which, like a plane mirror, ought to reflect only the true 
images of nature. 
From the best sources of information, we learn that this spe- 
cies is adventurous and powerful; that it darts upon its prey 
with astonishing velocity; and that it strikes with its formida- 
ble feet, permitting the duck to fall previously to securing it. 
The circumstance of the hawk’s never carrying the duck ofif on 
striking 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. 
