Evening star., 1944-02-16
This and That
By Charles Z. TraceueH.
PRIMROSE ROAD.

Dear Sir:
Can you identify the following bird
from my meager description? He des-
cended upon and proceeded to devour
a starting In my back yard.
He was a hard brilliant, metallic
blue. with band of black at the end OF
his tail feathers. His height appeared
approximately l8 inches I thought he
might-be the blue hawk but his legs and
feet were rosy pink-like the pigeons
leg coloring.
Il enjoy so much your daily article.
Sincerely, L. w. s."
4
This bird is probably the duck hawk,
the American representative of the ia
nous peregrine falcon of Europe.
The length Of this bird is 18 inches,
and its wing spread is about 45 inches.
This hawk Is one Of the blue ones its
tail is crossed with five or six narrow
bars Of black, the one nearest the tip
much broader, and the tail is tipped with
white
The bill is blush black with some
yellow at the base. The feet are yellow
and the claws blackish. This of course,
does not agree with our correspondents
description Of the feet and legs, but
observation on such points is always
very difficult.
The peregrine falcon is one OF the
famous hawking falcons.
In America the duck hawk is perhaps
more famous for the feat of watching
the parade at President Hoover's inau-
guration from several vantage points
along the route.
The scientific name of the duck hawk,
1alco peregrinus anatum, is an interest,"
ing ole.
1t means "the wandering sickle of the
ducks 1t is said that after the young
are reared, usually in some crevice on
cl11, the parents seek water and there
teach their young by showing them how
to kill ducks.
The older birds will strike duck after
duck, leaving them where they fall.
they seem to do this just out of sheer
love OF slaughter, and so may truly be
called the Nazis Of the bird world
This act definitely puts them in the
class OF bad hawks. They will slay any,
thing from warbler to a mallard duck,
and do 1t with such gusto that it is i'm
possible not to admire their ability. Yet
when we think of the damage they do
we can only regard them as terrible
creatures.
1t is fortunate for the other birds
that there are, however, few duck hawks
around
In this vicinity they are rare winter
visitants. In the old days one and
sometimes pair frequently wintered in
the tower of the old Post Office Depart
ment Building. They were normally
seen from about the middle of October
to the last of May. One was seen in the
tower not so long ago, as we recall. A
falcon released January Is, 1943 from
the roof OF The Star Building took off as
by instinct for the old tower across
Pennsylvania avenue. It is believed
that these hawks take such towers to
resemble the cliffs with which they are
familiar. Duck hawks often fly into
the sky scrapers of New York and live
for time upon the pigeons which they
find.
In our suburban section, especially
close to Rock Creek Park, hawks some
times fly into bird feeding stations and
seize songsters.
The pigeon hawk is miniature of
the duck haWk, except that he is brown
above. He is about foot high
Smaller yet is the sparrow hawk, one
Of the most beautiful of all birds. He
also has one of the most charming of
all bird common names being called in
some sections the windhover.
Although he sometimes takes a SPAR
row or two, he mostly eats insects and
mice, with the occasional caterpillar,
beetle or spider.
Persons who have tanned windhovers
say that they make one of the best pets.
In the old days of falconry the sparrow
hawk was carried by a priest. The
sparrow hawk is a genuine beauty and
never should be killed.
Three species of hawks which live
largely on birds are Cooper's hawk, IA
to 20 inches; the sharp-shinned hawk,
10 to IA inches, and the goshawk, 81 to
Is inches. The adult forms of these
three are blue and all are seen in this
vicinity occasionally. If our correspond
ent's hawk was not a duck hawk, it prob
ably was Cooper's hawk, but the duck
hawks feet are more 9olden.