National Museum, 9; Boston Society, 2; Philadelphia Academy, 4; Museum
Comp. Zoöl. 1; G. N. Lawrence, 2; R. Ridgway, 5. Total, 23.
_Measurements._
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
|Sex.| Wing. | Tail. | Culmen. | Tarsus. |Middle Toe.|Specimens.|
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
| ♂ |12.00–00.00| 7.60–0.00| .00–.75| .00–2.15| .00–1.70| 6 |
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
| ♀ |13.25–14.25| 8.00–9.00| .85–.90|2.05–2.40| 1.85–2.00| 12 |
+----+-----------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+----------+
HABITS. This is an exclusively western species, occurring from the
valley of the Mississippi to the Pacific coast. Specimens have been
obtained as far east as Illinois. Several others have been taken on the
Upper Missouri and the Yellowstone Rivers, in Nebraska, at Fort Thorne,
New Mexico, and on the Little Colorado River. A specimen was shot by
Dr. Heermann on the Farallones, on the California coast; but Dr. Cooper
thinks it rarely visits the coast border, though he several times saw,
near San Diego, a bird which he supposed to belong to this species. At
Martinez, in December, 1863, he succeeded in shooting one as it flew
from its perch at the approach of the wagon in which he was riding.
It is said to extend its migrations in summer to the Upper Columbia,
avoiding the densely forest-clad regions. Dr. Heermann saw a young
unfledged individual at San Francisco, from which it may be inferred
that a few may breed within the State.
The first individual of this species was taken by Dr. Townsend during
his trip across the continent, in 1834. It was obtained among the
mountainous regions of Oregon, near the sources of the Platte River.
Mr. Cassin states that Dr. Heermann procured several specimens in the
Sacramento Valley.
Mr. Cassin remarks that this species, except in its greatly superior
size and strength, bears a very close resemblance to the well-known
Jugger Falcon of India, a bird much used for the purposes of falconry.
Dr. Kennerly, who procured a single specimen of this species while his
party was encamped on the Little Colorado, found it busily engaged in
seeking its prey among the bushes that grew along the river-bank. It was
shy, and was procured with difficulty.
Dr. Suckley speaks of this Hawk as not at all rare in Oregon. He
procured a specimen of it at Fort Dalles, in the beginning of the winter
of 1854–55, which had been killed in the act of carrying off a barn-yard
fowl of about its own weight, and which it had just seized near the
door of a dwelling-house,—an act demonstrative of a union of courage,
ferocity, and strength inferior to none of its congeners.
Dr. Cooper characterizes this as one of the shyest of Hawks, as it is
also one of the swiftest, flying with rapid flappings of the wings. It
seems to prefer the borders of prairies, where it catches hares, quails,
and even larger game.
Mr. Ridgway informs me that this Hawk was seen by him in Southern
Illinois, near Mt. Carmel, September 27, 1871. It had been obtained once
before within the limits of Illinois, but in the northwestern part of
the State, at Rock Island, by I. Dickenson Sergeant, of Philadelphia,
and presented by him to the Academy of Natural Science.
Its nest and eggs were taken in Utah by Mr. Ricksecker. I have no notes
in regard to the former. A finely marked specimen of one of the eggs
procured by him is in my cabinet. It measures 2.15 inches in length
by 1.65 in breadth. It is of a somewhat less rounded-oval shape than
are the eggs of the _anatum_. The ground-color is a rich cream, with
a slightly pinkish tinge, and is beautifully marked with blotches of
various sizes, shapes, and shades of a red-brown tinged with chestnut,
and with occasional shadings of purplish. These are confluent about one
end, which in the specimen before me chances to be the smaller one. It
very closely resembles the eggs of the European _F. lanarius_.
An egg in the Smithsonian Collection (15,596), taken at Gilmer, Wyoming
Territory, May 13, 1870, by Mr. H. R. Durkee, has a ground-color of
pinkish-white, varying in two eggs to diluted vinaceous, thickly spotted
and minutely freckled with a single shade of a purplish-rufous. In shape
they are nearly elliptical, the smaller end being scarcely more pointed
than the larger. They measure 2.27 by 1.60 to 1.65 inches. The nest was
built on the edge of a cliff. Its eggs were also taken by Dr. Hayden
while with Captain Raynolds, at Gros Vent Fork, June 8, 1860.