PIGEON HAWK. 
45 
The Pigeon Hawk is eleven inches long, and twenty-three 
broad; the whole upper parts are of a deep dark brown, except 
the tail, which is crossed with bars of white; the inner vanes of 
the quill feathers are marked with round spots of reddish brown ; 
the bill is short, strongly toothed, of a light blue colour, and 
tipped with black; the skin surrounding the eye greenish; cere 
the same; temples, and line over the eye, light brown; the 
lower parts brownish white, streaked laterally with dark brown ; 
legs yellow, claws black. The female is an inch and a half 
longer, of a still deeper colour, though marked nearly in the 
same manner, with the exception of some white on the hind- 
head. The femorals, or thigh feathers, in both, are of a remark- 
able length, reaching nearly to the feet, and are also streaked 
longitudinally with dark brown. The irides of the eyes of this 
bird have been hitherto described as being of a brilliant yellow; 
but every specimen I have yet met with had the iris of a deep 
hazel. I must therefore follow nature, in opposition to very 
numerous and respectable authorities, 
I cannot, 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 travelled across the Atlantic; neither does it appear 
that the idea of training our hawks or eagles to the chace ever 
suggested itself to any of the Indian nations of North America. 
The Tartars, however, from whom, according to certain wri- 
ters, many of these nations originated, have long excelled in 
the practice of this sport; which is indeed better suited to an 
open country than to one covered with forest. Though once so 
honourable and so universal, it is now much disused in Europe, 
and in Britain is nearly extinct Yet I cannot but consider it as 
a much more noble and princely amusement than horse-racing 
and cock-fighting, cultivated in certain states with so much 
care; or even than pugilism, which is still so highly patronized 
in some of those enlightened countries. 
