62 
FALCO COLUMB ARIUS. 
and frequently making’ a sudden and fatal sweep into 
the very midst of their multitudes. The flocks of robins 
and pigeons are honoured with the same attentions 
from this marauder, whose daily excursions are entirely 
regulated by the movements of the great body on whose 
unfortunate members he fattens. The individual from 
which the present description was taken, was shot 
in the meadows below Philadelphia in the month of 
August. He was carrying off a blackbird ( oriolus 
phceniceus ) from the flock, and, though mortally 
wounded and dying, held his prey fast till his last 
expiring breath, having struck his claws into its very 
heart. This was found to be a male. Sometimes when 
shot at, and not hurt, he will fly in circles over the 
sportsman’s head, shrieking out with great violence, as 
if highly irritated. He frequently flies low, skimming 
a little above the field. I have never seen his nest. 
The pigeon hawk is eleven inches long, and twenty- 
three broad ; the whole upper parts are of a deep dark 
brown, except the tail, which is crossed with bars of 
white ; the inner vanes of the quill feathers are marked 
with round spots of reddish brown; the bill is short, 
strongly toothed, of a light blue colour, and tipped with 
black ; the skin surrounding the eye, greenish ; cere, 
the same ; temples and line over the eye, lighter brown ; 
the lower parts, brownish white, streaked laterally with 
dark brown ; legs, yellow; claws, black. The female is 
an inch and a half longer, of a still deeper colour, 
though marked nearly in the same manner, with the 
exception of some white on the hind head. The 
femoral, or thigh feathers, in both are of a remarkable 
length, reaching nearly to the feet, and are also streaked 
longitudinally with dark brown. The irides of the 
eyes of this bird have been hitherto described as being 
of a brilliant yellow ; but every specimen I have yet 
met with had the iris of a deep hazel. I must therefore 
follow nature, in opposition to very numerous and 
respectable authorities. 
I cannot, in imitation of European naturalists, em- 
bellish the history of this species with anecdotes of its 
