May 1887.] 
AKD OOLOGIST. 
75 
ards me a Peregrine Falcon, one eye glancing 
up at a killdeer many feet above him. /His 
long pointed wings beat the air with short, 
quiek strokes, as they bore him with increas- 
ing speed till he reached a point just b^iow his 
unwary victim, when, as an arrow from a bow, 
he shot, upwards, passing not a foot; ahead of 
the incoming killdeer. The bird libhrally flew 
into the 'outstretched talons that, /seized and 
bore it several hundred yards to the top of a 
tall red oakYree. 
Not many 'minutes had elapsbd before I was 
standing undeV the tree. A well directed charge 
of No. 8 shot was launched at the hawk; the 
killdeer fell frbrn his grast/; he fell to the 
under side of the limb on which he was perch- 
ed, quivered a few second?'' released his hold, 
and followed his dead quarry to the ground. 
On another occasion, I Was shooting ducks in 
a slough in the Warrfen/ bottom, when I heard 
an unusual noise, so loud and so continued was 
it that I took it to be the\scream of some large 
bird in distress — a Pi'leaied Woodpecker per- 
haps. I hastened towards the place whence 
the cries proceeded. As waded into the 
water, I saw a Peregrine \ Falcon hovering 
above the timber, as a FisHt Hawk balances 
himself before he descends. V started a black 
duck from unde,r a log not tenVeet from me; 
as I proceeded other ducks left .their hiding 
places and sought safety in flight. , They were 
aware of the danger over head in the shape of 
the Falcon, and all the frightful screens of the 
cunning hawk had not caused them * to leave 
the water. My presence in their vei\ midst 
had alarmed them and so soon as they were on 
the wing the Falcon darted like lightning, after 
them, and they disappeared through theXtim- 
ber with their pursuer close behind them. 
The Capture of the Killdeer by the Falcon, \n 
the manner above described, was certainly as- 
tonishing. It was evidently a ruse, as the birA, 
did not see its enemy, till like an apparition, he 
shot up just ahead and the two taloned feet 
Wflrp f>v|-pnHpf] fn ror>oivo if 
ed bird escaped by squatting suddenly. T*fie 
upward flight of- the Falcon seemed to me* not 
leste rapid than had been his descent. I had 
one 'parrel loaded, the contents of which I sent 
after him without apparent effect, as he towered 
in a fe\yseeonds beyond the reach of.danger. 
One among other occasions, when this ma- 
rauder has, suddenly appeared on the scene. I 
shall never forget. I had one day scattered a 
covey of partridges ( Golbnus vifginianus ) in an 
open field, andNjiad hunted the 7 single birds for 
some time withSyaried success; now killing, 
now missing a bird. Finally my dog pointed 
in a sedge field, at IS^st a half a mile from the 
nearest woods. 1 flushed the bird and missed 
it; almost simultaneously with the shot, a 
Peregrine Falcon stoOpeo. from the sky ; com- 
ing downward and directlV behind the whir- 
ring partridge, he 'passed hv me swift as the 
leaden shower 1 had just sent in vain after poor 
Bob White; overtaking hut missing his quarry 
before it had flown two hundred yards, it 
seemed to me 'that the Falcon must have flown 
with at least,’ four times the speed of the part- 
ridge, and that he flew at least a half\a mile 
while the latter was going two hundred yards. 
That bird was bagged that day by ne\her 
shooter nor hawk. I marked it down; but, I 
had not the heart to flush and shoot at V 
again when it had escaped the leaden missiles^ 
hurled after it, and the sharp talons of the huu- \ 
gry Falcon that followed in their wake. 
Nesting of the Barred Owl in 
Texas. 
BY EDWIN C. DAVIS, GAINESVILLE, TEXAS. 
Nesting Habits of Texas Birds. 
H. P. Atwater, London, Ontario. 
Barred Owl, (Strix nebulosa ). Breed in the 
river bottom in holes in the tall trees, but are 
not very common. I did not climb to the nests. 
O.&O. XII. Aug. 1887 p.124 
Imagine yourself twenty-five miles from any 
railroad station, and miles away from a house 
of any kind, on a cold and disagreeable day in 
.March, and no possible chance of finding shel- 
ter from a drenching rain. Well, this was the 
condition of a friend and myself on the 6th day 
j of March, 1886. We had set out to visit the 
swamps of the Sabine river in hopes of adding 
! a few sets of Bubo’s eggs to our collections, and 
| as all preparations had been made, on the day 
named we started and after travelling almost a 
day through underbrush, over decayed logs, 
and after wading through bogs and driftwood 
almost waist deep, we arrived at our place of 
destination. Being very much fatigued from 
our day’s journey we concluded to ‘‘pitch our 
tents ”, on a high point near by, which we dis- 
covered to be above high water mark. (The 
