_? ? Accipiter falco niger_, BRISS. Orn. I, 337. _? ? Falco niger_,
GMEL. S. N. 1789, 270. _Falco polyagrus_, CASS. B. Cal. & Tex. pl. xvi
(dark figure).
SP. CHAR. In colors almost exactly similar to _F. gyrfalco_, var.
_labradora_. Above continuous dark vandyke-brown, approaching
brownish-black on the head, which is variegated only on the gular
region, and inclining to grayish-brown on the tail; the whole surface
entirely free from spots or markings of any kind. Beneath similar in
color to the upper parts, but the feathers edged with whitish, this
rather predominating on the throat; flanks and tibiæ with roundish white
spots; lower tail-coverts with broad transverse bars of white. Lining
of the wing with feathers narrowly tipped with white; inner webs of
primaries with narrow, transverse elliptical spots of cream-color; inner
webs of tail-feathers with badly defined, irregular, similar spots, or
else with these wanting, the whole web being plain dusky-brown.
No. 12,022 (♀, Oregon; T. R. Peale). Wing, 15.00; tail, 8.50; culmen,
.95; tarsus, 2.10; middle toe, 2.15. (Figured by Cassin as _F.
polyagrus_, in Birds of California and Texas, pl. xvi.)
No. 45,814 (♀, Sitka, Alaska, May, 1866; F. Bischoff). Wing, 14.90;
tail, 8.50; tarsus, 2.10; middle toe, 2.20. The two similar in color,
but in the latter the white streaks on the lower parts a little broader,
and the middle of the auriculars slightly streaked.
HAB. Northwest coast of North America, from Oregon to Sitka.
This curious race of _Falco communis_ is a good illustration of the
climatic peculiarity of the northwest coast region, to which I have
often referred before; the same melanistic tendency being apparent in
birds of other species from the same region, as an example of which I
may mention the Black Merlin (_Falco æsalon_, var. _suckleyi_), which is
a perfect miniature of the present bird.
HABITS. The Great-footed Hawk of North America is very closely allied
to the well-known Peregrine Falcon of Europe, and so closely resembles
it that by many writers, even at the present day, it is regarded as
identical with it. Without doubt, the habits of the two races are very
nearly the same, though the peculiarities of the North American bird are
not so well known as are those of the European. In its distribution it
is somewhat erratic, for the most part confined to the rocky sea-coast,
the river-banks, and the high ground of the northeastern parts of
America. It is known to breed in a few isolated rocky crags in various
parts of the country, even as far to the south as Pennsylvania, and it
occurs probably both as migrant and resident in several of the West
India Islands, in Central and in South America. A single specimen was
taken by Dr. Woodhouse in the Creek country of the Indian Territory. Two
individuals are reported by Von Pelzeln as having been taken in Brazil.
The Newtons met with it in St. Croix. Mr. Gosse found it in Jamaica, and
Dr. Gundlach gives it as a bird of Cuba. Jardine states it to be a bird
of Bermuda, and also that it has been taken in the Straits of Magellan.
A single specimen was taken at Dueñas, Guatemala, in February, by Mr.
Salvin.
On the Pacific coast this Falcon has been traced as far south as the
limit of the land. Dr. Cooper met with only two pairs, in March, 1854,
frequenting a high wooded cliff at Shoal-water Bay. Dr. Suckley procured
a single specimen from Steilacoom. Dr. Cooper states that the habits
of these corresponded with those described for the _F. anatum_ and _F.
peregrinus_, and that, like these Falcons, it is a terror to all land
animals weaker than itself. It is said to breed on the rocky cliffs of
the Pacific.
An individual of this bird was taken by Colonel Grayson at the Tres
Marias Islands. When shot, it was endeavoring to capture a Sparrow-hawk,
indicating its indifference as to the game it pursues. He adds that
this bird attacks with vigor everything it sees, from the size of a
Mallard Duck down, and is the terror of all small birds. Its range must
be very great, as it often ventures far out to sea. On his passage from
Mazatlan to San Francisco, in 1858, on the bark Carlota, one of these
Falcons came on board more than a hundred miles off the coast of Lower
California, and took up its quarters on the main-top yard, where it
remained two days, during which time it captured several Dusky Petrels.
It would dart headlong upon these unsuspecting birds, seldom missing
its aim. It would then return to its resting-place and partly devour
its prize. At other times it dropped its victims into the sea in wanton
sport. Finally, as if tired of this kind of game, it made several wide
circles around the ship, ascended to a considerable height, and departed
in the direction of the Mexican shore.
This Falcon is found along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the extreme
northern portion, breeding on the high rocky cliffs of Grand Menan and
in various favorable situations thence northward. A few breed on Mount
Tom, near the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, on Talcott Mountain in
Connecticut, in Pennsylvania, and near Harper’s Ferry, in Maryland.
Mr. Boardman has several times taken their eggs from the cliffs of Grand
Menan, where they breed in April, or early in May. In one instance he
found the nest in close proximity to that of a pair of Ravens, the two
families being apparently on terms of amity or mutual tolerance.
For several years two or more pairs of these birds have been known to
breed regularly on Mount Tom, near Northampton. The nests were placed
on the edges of precipitous rocks very early in the spring, the young
having been fully grown by the last of June. Their young and their eggs
have been taken year after year, yet at the last accounts they still
continued to nest in that locality. Dr. W. Wood has also found this
species breeding on Talcott Mountain, near Hartford. Four young were
found, nearly fledged, June 1. In one instance four eggs were taken
from a nest on Mount Tom, by Mr. C. W. Bennett, as early as April 19.
This was in 1864. Several times since he has taken their eggs from the
same eyrie, though the Hawks have at times deserted it and sought other
retreats. In one year a pair was twice robbed, and, as is supposed,
made a third nest, and had unfledged young as late as August. Mr. Allen
states that these Hawks repair to Mount Tom very early in the spring,
and carefully watch and defend their eyrie, manifesting even more alarm
at this early period, when it is approached, than they evince later,
when it contains eggs or young. Mr. Bennett speaks of the nest as a mere
apology for one.
This Hawk formerly nested on a high cliff near the house of Professor
S. S. Haldeman, Columbia, Penn., who several times procured young birds
which had fallen from the nest. The birds remained about this cliff
ten or eleven months of the year, only disappearing during the coldest
weather, and returning with the first favorable change. They bred
early in spring, the young leaving the nest perhaps in May. Professor
Haldeman was of the opinion that but a single pair remained, the young
disappearing in the course of the season.
Sir John Richardson, in his Arctic expedition in 1845, while descending
the Mackenzie River, latitude 65°, noticed what he presumed to be a nest
of this species, placed on the cliff of a sandstone rock. This Falcon
was rare on that river.
Mr. MacFarlane found this species not uncommon on the banks of Lockhart
and Anderson Rivers, in the Arctic regions. In one instance he mentions
finding a nest on a cliff thirty feet from the ground. There were four
eggs lying on a ledge of the shale of which the cliff was composed.
Both parents were present, and kept up a continued screaming, though at
too great a distance for him to shoot either. He adds that this bird is
by no means scarce on Lockhart River, and he was informed that it also
nests along the ramparts and other steep banks of the Upper Anderson,
though he has not been able to learn that it has been found north of
Fort Anderson. In another instance the nest was on a ledge of clayey
mud,—the eggs, in fact, lying on the bare ground, and nothing resembling
a nest to be seen. A third nest was found on a ledge of crumbling
shale, along the banks of the Anderson River, near the outlet of the
Lockhart. This Hawk, he remarks, so far as he was able to observe,
constructs no nest whatever. At least, on the Anderson River, where he
found it tolerably abundant, it was found to invariably lay its eggs on
a ledge of rock or shale, without making use of any accessory lining or
protection, always availing itself of the most inaccessible ledges. He
was of the opinion that they do not breed to the northward of the 68th
parallel. They were also to be found nesting in occasional pairs along
the lime and sandstone banks of the Mackenzie, where early in August,
for several successive years, he noticed the young of the season fully
fledged, though still attended by the parent birds.
In subsequent notes, Mr. MacFarlane repeats his observations that this
species constructs no nest, merely laying its eggs on a ledge of shale
or other rock. Both parents were invariably seen about the spot. In some
instances the eggs found were much larger than in others.
Mr. Dall mentions shooting a pair near Nuk´koh, on the Yukon River, that
had a nest on a dead spruce. The young, on the 1st of June, were nearly
ready to fly. It was not a common species, but was found from Nulato to
Sitka and Kodiak.
In regard to general characteristics of this Falcon, they do not
apparently differ in any essential respects from those of the
better-known _Falco communis_ of the Old World. It flies with immense
rapidity, rarely sails in the manner of other Hawks, and then only for
brief periods and when disappointed in some attempt upon its prey.
In such cases, Mr. Audubon states, it merely rises in a broad spiral
circuit, in order to reconnoitre a space below. It then flies swiftly
off in quest of plunder. These flights are made in the manner of the
Wild Pigeon. When it perceives its object, it increases the flappings of
its wings, and pursues its victim with a surprising rapidity. It turns,
and winds, and follows every change of motion of the object of pursuit
with instantaneous quickness. Occasionally it seizes a bird too heavy to
be managed, and if this be over the water it drops it, if the distance
to land be too great, and flies off in pursuit of another. Mr. Audubon
has known one of this species to come at the report of a gun, and carry
off a Teal not thirty steps distant from the sportsman who had killed
it. This daring conduct is a characteristic trait.
This bird is noted for its predatory attacks upon water-fowl, but it
does not confine itself to such prey. In the interior, Richardson states
that it preys upon the Wild Pigeon, and upon smaller birds. In one
instance Audubon has known one to follow a tame Pigeon to its house,
entering it at one hole and instantly flying out at the other. The same
writer states that he has seen this bird feeding on dead fish that had
floated to the banks of the Mississippi. Occasionally it alights on the
dead branch of a tree in the neighborhood of marshy ground, and watches,
apparently surveying, piece by piece, every portion of the territory. As
soon as it perceives a suitable victim, it darts upon it like an arrow.
While feeding, it is said to be very cleanly, tearing the flesh, after
removing the feathers, into small pieces, and swallowing them one by
one.
The European species, as is well known, was once largely trained for the
chase, and even to this day is occasionally used for this purpose; its
docility in confinement, and its wonderful powers of flight, rendering
it an efficient assistant to the huntsman. We have no reason to doubt
that our own bird might be made equally serviceable.
Excepting during the breeding-season, it is a solitary bird. It mates
early in February, and even earlier in the winter. Early in the fall
the families separate, and each bird seems to keep to itself until the
period of reproduction returns.
In confinement, birds of this family become quite tame, can be trained
to habits of wonderful docility and obedience, and evince even an
affection for the one who cares for their wants.
This species appears to nest almost exclusively on cliffs, and rarely,
if ever, to make any nests in other situations. In a few rare and
exceptional cases this Falcon has been known to construct a nest in
trees. Mr. Ord speaks of its thus nesting among the cedar swamps of New
Jersey; but this fact has been discredited, and there has been no recent
evidence of its thus breeding in that State. Mr. Dall found its nest in
a tree in Alaska, but makes no mention of its peculiarities.
The eggs of this species are of a rounded-oval shape, and range from
2.00 to 2.22 inches in length, and from 1.60 to 1.90 in width. Five
eggs, from Anderson River, have an average size of 2.09 by 1.65 inches.
An egg from Mount Tom, Mass., is larger than any other I have seen,
measuring 2.22 inches in length by 1.70 in breadth, and differs in the
brighter coloring and a larger proportion of red in its markings. The
ground is a deep cream-color, but is rarely visible, being generally
so entirely overlaid by markings as nowhere to appear. In many the
ground-color appears to have a reddish tinge, probably due to the brown
markings which so nearly conceal it. In others, nothing appears but a
deep coating of dark ferruginous or chocolate-brown, not homogeneous,
but of varying depth of coloring, and here and there deepening into
almost blackness. In one egg, from Anderson River, the cream-colored
ground is very apparent, and only sparingly marked with blotches of a
light brown, with a shading of bronze. An egg from the cabinet of Mr.
Dickinson, of Springfield, taken on Mount Tom, Massachusetts, is boldly
blotched with markings of a bright chestnut-brown, varying greatly in
its shadings.
_Subgenus_ ÆSALON, KAUP.
_Æsalon_, KAUP, 1829. (Type, _Falco æsalon_, GMELIN, = _F.
lithofalco_, GM.)
_Hypotriorchis_, AUCT. _nec_ BOIE, 1826, the type of which is _Falco
subbuteo_, LINN.
_Dendrofalco_, GRAY, 1840. (Type, _F. æsalon_, GMEL.)
This subgenus contains, apparently, but the single species _F.
lithofalco_, which is found nearly throughout the Northern Hemisphere,
and in different climatic regions is modified into geographical races.
Of these, North America possesses three, and Europe one; they may be
distinguished as follows:—
Species and Races.
=F. lithofalco.= Second and third quills longest; first usually
shorter than, occasionally equal to, or rarely longer than, the
fourth. _Adult female, and young of both sexes._ Above brownish,
varying from pale earth-brown, or umber, to nearly black, plain, or
with obscure transverse spotting of lighter; tail with five to eight
lighter bands, which, however, are sometimes obsolete, except the
terminal one. Beneath ochraceous-white, longitudinally striped with
brown or dusky over the whole surface. _Adult male_ (except in var.
_suckleyi_ and _richardsoni_?). Above plumbeous-blue, with darker
shaft-streaks; tail with more or less distinct bands of black, and
paler tip. Beneath much as in the female and young, but stripes
usually narrower and more reddish. Wing, 7.20–9.00; tail, 4.90–6.30;
culmen, .45–.60; tarsus, 1.30–1.60; middle toe, 1.15–1.51.
_a._ Adult male plumbeous-blue above; sexes very unlike in adult
dress. Female and young without transverse spotting on upper parts.
_Adult male._ Tail deep plumbeous, tipped with ash, with six
transverse series of dusky spots (which do not touch the shaft
nor edge of the feathers) anterior to the subterminal zone, the
black of which extends forward along the edge of the feather.
Inner web of the longest primary with ten transverse spots of
white. Streaks on the cheeks enlarged and blended, forming a
conspicuous “mustache.” Pectoral markings linear black. The
ochraceous wash deepest across the nape and breast, and along
the sides, and very pale on the tibiæ. _Adult female._ Above
brownish-plumbeous, the feathers becoming paler toward their
margins, and with conspicuous black shaft-streaks. Tail with eight
(three concealed) narrow bands of pale fulvous-ashy; longest
primary with ten light spots on inner web. Outer webs of primaries
with a few spots of ochraceous. _Young._ Similar to the ♀ _adult_,
but with a more rusty cast to the plumage, and with more or less
distinct transverse spots of paler on the upper parts. Wing,
7.60–9.00; tail, 5.10–6.30; culmen, .45–.55; tarsus, 1.35–1.47;
middle toe, 1.15–1.35. _Hab._ Europe …
var. _lithofalco_.[58]
_Adult male._ Tail light ash, tipped with white, and crossed by
three or four nearly continuous narrow bands of black (extending
over both webs, and crossing the shaft), anterior to the broad
subterminal zone, the black of which does not run forward along
the edge of the feathers. Inner web of longest primary with seven
to nine transverse spots of white. Streaks on the cheeks sparse
and fine, not condensed into a “mustache.” Pectoral markings broad
clear brown. Ochraceous wash weak across the nape and breast,
and along sides, and very deep on the tibiæ. _Adult female._
Above plumbeous-umber, without rusty margins to the feathers,
and without conspicuous black shaft-streaks. Tail with only five
(one concealed) narrow bands of pale ochraceous; outer webs of
primaries without ochraceous spots; inner web of outer primary
with eight spots of white. _Young._ Like the adult female, but
darker. Wing, 7.90–8.25; tail, 5.15–5.25; tarsus, 1.00; middle
toe, 1.25. _Hab._ Entire continent of North America; West Indies …
var. _columbarius_.
_b._ Adult male not bluish? sexes similar? upper parts with lighter
transverse spots.
_Adult._ Above light grayish-umber, or earth-brown, with more or
less distinct lighter transverse spots; secondaries crossed by
three bands of ochraceous spots, and outer webs of inner primaries
usually with spots of the same. Tail invariably with six complete
and continuous narrow bands of dull white. Beneath white, with
broad longitudinal markings of light brown, these finer and
hair-like on the tibiæ and cheeks, where they are sparse and
scattered, not forming a “mustache.” Top of the head much lighter
than the back. _Young._ Similar, but much tinged with rusty
above, all the white portions inclining to pale ochraceous. Wing,
7.70–9.00; tail, 5.00–6.30; culmen, .50–.60; tarsus, 1.40–1.65;
middle toe, 1.20–1.51. Second and third quills longest; first
equal to fourth, slightly shorter, or sometimes slightly longer.
_Hab._ Interior plains of North America, between the Mississippi
River and the Rocky Mountains, from the Arctic regions to Texas …
var. (?) _richardsoni_.
_c._ Adult male not bluish? sexes similar? upper parts without
transverse spots, and tail without lighter bands, except at the tip.
Above plain brownish-black; the tail narrowly tipped with whitish,
but without other markings; inner webs of the primaries without
lighter spots. Beneath pale ochraceous broadly striped with
sooty-black. Wing, 7.35–8.50; tail, 5.25–5.75; culmen, .50–.55;
tarsus, 1.30–1.62; middle toe, 1.25–1.35. _Hab._ Northwest coast
region from Oregon to Sitka …
var. _suckleyi_.
Falco (Æsalon) lithofalco (GMELIN).
=Var. columbarius=, LINNÆUS.