I 44 ORNITHOLOGIST 
l Editor “ O & O ” : I will open the year of | — 
1893 Wednesday by starting on a snow-shoe 
trip of 100 miles, after Owls’ eggs, followed 
by one, as soon as migration begins, to the 
famous Devil Lake County. 
Last year I collected 640 eggs, 7 1 varie 
ties ; this year will swell the list a little, con 
sequently the snow-shoe trip. 
Hope to add a Bald Eagle to my Rap- 
tores as I have heard of one out 70 miles 
in a little patch of timber on the prairies. 
Prairies ! A multitude of thoughts that one 
word contains ; dreary in winter, inviting in 
spring, beautiful in summer and glorious in 
autumn. What medicine for the sick and 
hard-worked clerk or business man of the 
cities would be a few weeks of life here. 
A good team of horses and dogs, guns and 
a place to sleep, then let business take care 
of itself. 
Few can realize how much benefit such a 
trip is unless it has been their lot to receive 
such benefit. 
To be born in New York State and raised in 
North Dakota is not the luck of many men. 
For 14 years this has been my home. Saw 
the Elk in plenty when too small to hunt, 
Deer and Antelope. It is a fine place for 
the hunter or naturalist. 
Will give another note in the spring, after 
the season is passed, telling how successful 
it was - Alf. Eastgate. 
Grand Forks, N.D. 
[Vol. 18-No. 10 
parently had to fly three times as far as its 
quarry before it reached the latter. 
On another occasion two Duck Hawks, 
were seen pursuing a flock of tame Pigeons. 
These were far above their pursuers, and 
while in that position were safe. But the 
Falcons began to “ring,” or ascend in cir- 
cles till the smaller bird, the male, got his 
“pitch” first, then, with astonishing swift- 
ness, he overtook the Pigeons, whose rapid- 
ity of flight is very great. When the Falcon 
began his swoop, at about an angle of twenty 
degrees with the flight of the Pigeons, these, 
though going very fast, seemed in compar- 
ison with the progress of their pursuer 
scarcely to move, as he shot like an arrow 
through the flock. Other instances of the 
swiftness of flight by Falcons might be given 
but these seem to show that no bird flies as 
fast as the Falcon. C . A.very . 
Greensboro, Ala. 0 .& O. Vol.18.Oct.1893 p. 143-4 
“ What is authentically known of the ra- 
pidity of flight by different species of birds, 
and which is considered the swiftest?” 
To Mr. Smith’s question, I believe it may 
be answered that the Falcons are the swift- 
est, and as far as my experience goes it 
seems to me that the Duck Hawk is swifter 
than any other species. 
It easily overtakes any bird within the 
range of its vision, and does so with incred- 
ible velocity. 
A Bobwhite, once fired at by me, was 
overtaken by a Duck Hawk in the distance 
of two hundred yards, though the Hawk ap- 
1179. The Sport of Ha-wkbig. By R. W. Seiss. I, II. The Pere- 
t . ; l . grine Falcon. Ibid., No. 13, Oct. 21, p. 243; No. 14, Oct. 28, p.263; 
III. The Gyrfalcon. No. 15, Nov. 4, pp. 282, 383; IV. The La, Her Fal- 
con. No. 16. Nov. 11, pp. 202, 203 ; V. The American Merlin and Kestril. g) 
No. 21, Dec. 16, pp. 403, 404.— On the rearing, training and management (LJrvW '^ 
of Falcons for use in hawking, with illustrations. & Stream, Yol. 2 QEVIX 
812. Ornithological Field Notes , -with one Addition to the Cincinnati 
Avian Fauna. By William Hubbell Fisher. Journ. Citicinnati Soc. 
Nat. Hist., VII, No. 1, April, 1884, pp. 10-13. — The species added is 
Falco peregrinus ncevius, and there are notes on Astur atricafittus, 
Loxia curvirostra americana , Lanins borealis , and Bubo virginianus. 
