WINTER FALCON. 
73 
This is a dexterous frog catcher ; who, that he may pursue 
his profession with full effect, takes up his winter residence 
to the Goshawks, I have chosen that as their present appellation, but certainly 
with a query. 
I have transcribed the habits of both species as given by Audubon, that the 
comparison may be the more easy, and at the description of F. lineatus have 
referred to this page : — 
“ The Winter Hawk is not a constant resident in the United States, but 
merely visits them, making its first appearance there at the approach of winter. 
The flight is smooth and light, although greatly protracted, when necessity 
requires it to be so. It sails, at times, at a considerable elevation ; and, not- 
withstanding the comparative shortness of its wings, performs this kind of 
motion with grace, and in circles of more than ordinary diameter. It is a 
remarkably silent bird, often spending the greater part of the day without 
uttering its notes more than once or twice, which it does just before it alights, 
to watch with great patience and perseverance for the appearance of its prey. 
Its haunts are the extensive meadows and marshes which occur along our 
rivers. There it pounces with a rapid motion on the frogs, which it either 
devours on the spot, or carries to the perch, or the top of the hay-stack, on 
which it previously stood. It generally rests at night on the ground, among 
the tall sedges of the marshes. I have never seen this Hawk in pursuit of any 
other birds than those of its own species, each individual chasing the others 
from the district which it had selected for itself. The cry of the Winter 
Hawk is clear and prolonged, and resembles the syllables kay-o.” 
“ The Red-shouldered Hawk, or, as I would prefer calling it, the Red- 
breasted Hawk, although dispersed over the greater part of the United States, 
is rarely observed in the middle districts, where, on the contrary, the Winter 
Falcon usually makes its appearance from the north at the approach of every 
autumn, and is of more common occurrence. This bird is one of the most 
noisy of its genus, during spring especially, when it would be difficult to 
approach the skirts of woods bordering a large plantation, without hearing its 
discordant shrill notes, ka-hee, ka-hee , as it is seen sailing in rapid circles at a 
very great elevation. Its ordinary flight is even and protracted. It is a more 
general inhabitant of the woods than most of our other species, particularly 
during the summer. 
“ The interior of woods seems, as I have said, the fittest haunts for the Red- 
shouldered Hawk. He sails through them a few yards above the ground, and 
suddenly alights on the low branch of a tree, or the top of a dead stump, from 
which he silently watches in an erect posture for the appearance of squirrels, 
upon which he pounces directly, and kills them in an instant, afterwards 
devouring them on the ground. 
“ At the approach of spring, this species begins to pair, and its flight is 
accompanied with many circlings and zigzag motions, during which it emits 
