PIGEON HAWK. 
61 
others are very deep red hay, with a single broad hand 
of black near the end, and tipt with yellowish white ; 
cere and legs, yellow ; orbits, the same ; bill, light bine ; 
iris of the eye, dark, almost black ; claws, blue black. 
The character of this corresponds with that of the 
female, given at large in the preceding article. I 
have reason, however, to believe, that these birds 
vary considerably in the colour and markings of their 
plumage during the first and second years ,• having met 
with specimens every way corresponding with the 
above, except in the breast, w hich was a plain rufous 
white, without spots ; the markings on the tail also 
differing a little in different specimens. These I uni- 
formly found, on dissection, to be males ; from the 
stomach of one of w hich I took a considerable part of 
the carcass of a robin, (turdus migrator ms?) including 
the unbroken feet and claw r s ; though the robin actually 
measures within half an inch as long as the sparrow* 
hawk. 
10 . FALCO COLUMBARIUS, LINN. 
PIGEON HAWK. 
WILSON, PLATE XV. FIG. III. MALE. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE 
MUSEUM. 
This small hawk possesses great spirit and rapidity 
of flight. He is generally migratory in the middle and 
northern states, arriving in Pennsylvania early in spring, 
and extending his migrations as far north as Hudson’s 
Bay. After building and rearing his young, he retires 
to the south early in November. Small birds and mice 
are his principal food. When the reed-birds, grakles, 
and red-winged blackbirds congregate in large flights, 
he is often observed hovering in their rear, or on their 
flanks, picking up the weak, the w ounded, or stragglers. 
