GREAT-FOOTED HAWK. 
253 
a gunner along the shore but knew it well ; and each could 
relate something of it which bordered on the marvellous. It 
was described as darting with the rapidity of an arrow on the 
ducks when on the wing, and striking them down with the 
projecting bone of its breast. Even the wild geese were said 
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 sportsman, was the chief object of our wishes. 
Day after day did we traverse the salt marshes, and explore 
the ponds and estuaries which the web-footed tribes frequent 
in immense multitudes, in the hope of obtaining the imperial 
depredator ; even all the gunners of the district were summoned 
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 Mr Wilson, he 
received 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 reverse of this 
procedure has been a principal cause why errors and absurdi- 
ties have so frequently deformed 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 
species is uncommonly bold and powerful ; that it darts on its 
prey with astonishing velocity ; and that it strikes with its for- 
midable feet, permitting the duck to fall previously to securing 
it. The circumstance of the hawk’s never carrying the duck 
