GREAT FOOTED HAWK. 
53 
hero takes ample revenge on them, at every opportunity, 
by robbing them of their game, the hard-earned fruits 
of their labour. 
The duck hawk, it is said, often follows the steps of 
the gunner, knowing that the ducks will be aroused on 
the wing, which will afford it an almost certain chance 
of success. 
We have been informed, that those ducks which are 
struck down, have their backs lacerated from the rump 
to the neck. If this be the fact, it is a proof that the 
hawk employs only its talons, which are long and stout, 
in the operation. One respectable inhabitant of Cape 
May told us, that he has seen the hawk strike from 
below. 
This species has been long known in Europe ; and 
in the a^e of falconry, was greatly valued for those 
qualifications which rendered it estimable to the lovers 
and followers of that princely amusement. But we 
have strong objections to its specific appellation. The 
epithet peregrine is certainly not applicable to our 
hawk, which is not migratory, as far as our most 
diligent inquiries can ascertain ; and, as additional 
evidence of the fact, we ourselves have seen it prowling 
near the coast of New Jersey, in the month of May, 
and heard its screams, which resemble somewhat those c 
of the bald eagle, in the swamps wherein it is said to 
breed. We have therefore taken the li berty of changing 
its English name for one which will at once express a 
characteristic designation, or which will indicate the 
species without the labour of investigation.* 
“ This species,” says Pennant, “ breeds on the rocks 
of Llandidno, in Caernarvonshire, Wales, f That pro- 
montory has been long famed for producing a generous 
* <c Specific names, to be perfect, ought to express some pecu- 
liarity, common to no other or the genus.” Am. Orn. i. p. 65. 
f We suspect that Pennant is mistaken ; its name denotes that 
it is not indigenous in Great Britain. Bewick says, “ The 
peregrine, or passenger falcon, is rarely met with in Britain, and 
consequently is but little known with us.” British Birds, part i. 
p. 71. 
