The Audubon Reader (31 page)

Daylight comes, my Lucy, and I get up from a bed where awake & without a wife [I feel] very stupid. I opened all the yellow curtains & visited my room by day. Three doors besides that of my entrance were in sight. The spirit of seeking new adventures prompted me to open one. Singular: a neat little closet lighted by a high narrow slip of a gothic window was before me & in a moment I discovered its purpose; it was a bathing room. Large porcelain tubs, jars of water, drying linen & all else wanted laid about, but the color of the whole was quite changed; the carpet was variegated with crimson & all appeared alike warm [and] beautifully contrived. I saw, but touched nothing; I was clean enough. The door opposite led me into another closet, differently intended, and I merely saw its use. I was going to unlatch the third, yet unknown, when, thinking a moment, I made up my mind not to intrude, for I recollected that it led back towards the interior of the hall. The chimney piece was decorated with choice shells; I saw myself in the large mirror on it & above it a painting representing a lovely young female, a true resemblance of Queen Mary. I concluded to venture down. I say “venture” for naught but the breeze had yet been heard, but I proceeded & arrived at the drawing room where two young women were engaged busily cleaning. The youngest saw me first & I heard her tell her companion, “the American gentleman is down,” and they instantly both vanished. I examined quite at leisure all about me; the paintings were truly beautiful. The morning was clear & the light on them very good.

The young clergyman came in and a walk was instantly undertaken. The hares all started before our dogs from wood to wood. We arrived at the stables, where I saw 4 truly well-formed Abyssinian horses with tails down to the earth & legs of one sinew
no longer than that of an elk. The riding room was still lighted and the training of those animals had been performed that morning. The gamekeeper was unkenneling his dogs; he shewed a large tame fox, and through farther woods we proceeded to the manor, now the habitat of the great falconer. I saw
John Anderson and his hawks. He had already received orders to come to the hall at 11 to shew me these birds in their full dress. We visited next hanging gardens, where to my surprise roses were blooming most sweetly. I plucked one for my buttonhole, & returning to the hall by following the sinuosities of a brook, reached [it] by 10 o’clock.

The ladies were in the drawing room; a sweet babe was here also. It was a little nephew of the Countess, rosy with health & gay with the innocence of his age. Mr. Hays & Ramsay had left for Edinburgh. The Earl came in and we went to breakfast. Neither at this meal nor at luncheon are seen waiters. Now all was bustle about the drawing lesson. I might positively have said that I was about receiving one, Lucy, for
Lady Morton draws much better than I do, believe me. The chalks, crayons and all wanting was before us in a few minutes & I sat to give a lesson to one of the first & most ancient peeresses of Scotland as well as of England. Singular fact. Yet sometimes, when in the woods, I have rested and anticipated being introduced to the great nobles of Europe & I am now gradually proceeding to that effect. Well, I gave a lesson, taught how to rub with the cork & prepare with water colors. The Earl saw the proceeding and was delighted at my invention; I shewed him many of my drawings. The falconer came and I saw his falcons ready for the chase. He held them perched on his gloved hand with bells & hoods flowing, but the morning was not fit for a flight & I lost the sight of that pleasure. During one of the resting moments, the Countess asked for my subscription board & wrote very legibly with a steel pen, “The Countess of Morton.” She wished to pay for the first number then, but this I declined. She promised me letters for England & I assure thee I was pleased. I evinced a wish to have some fresh
pheasants and she immediately ordered some to be killed for me. Luncheon again, after which I walked out to see a flock of full one hundred brown deer that, like sheep, were feeding a few hundred paces of the hall. The carriage had been ordered for me, for I was engaged to dinner in Edinburgh at Capt.
Basil Hall’s. I saw it come to the hall & returned to pay my respects & did so, but it was agreed by all parties that it should be sent for me next week to give another lesson & spend another night. I pumped their hands & took my leave.

My ride home was soon over; the carriage moved as before. Here I found a packet from the American minister, letter from Charles Bonaparte, some books also from him & a bill from my tailor. I ran to Mr. Lizars’s to give an account of my journey and reached No. 8 St. Colm at 6 o’clock.

Capt. Hall soon spoke of America. Strange to say, he was a midshipman on board the
Leander
when Pierce was killed off New York, & when on my way from France [in 1806], our captain, seeing the British vessel, went round Long Island & reached New York by Hellgate. My portfolio was there. After dinner the crowd accumulated, I opened for a moment my book but soon closed it, for I felt wearied.
Lady Hunter came in &
Sir William Hamilton. I saw a beautiful sister of Captain Hall, the handsome Mr. Harvey & many more, but Lucy, I made my escape without bidding adieu except to the Captain, and I have reached George Street almost broke down …

The French and Spaniards of Louisiana have designated all the species of the genus Falco by the name of
Mangeurs de Poulets
; and the farmers in other portions of the Union have bestowed upon them according to their size the appellations of Hen Hawk, Chicken Hawk, Pigeon Hawk, &c. This mode of naming these rapacious birds is doubtless natural enough, but it displays little knowledge of the characteristic manners of the species. No bird can better illustrate the frequent inaccuracy of the names bestowed by ignorant persons than the present, of which on referring to the plate, you will see a pair enjoying themselves over a brace of ducks of different species. Very likely, were tame ducks as plentiful on the plantations in our states as wild ducks are on our rivers, lakes and estuaries, these hawks might have been named by some of our settlers
Mangeurs de Canards
.

Look at these two pirates eating their
dejeuné à la fourchette
, as it were, congratulating each other on the savoriness of the
food in their grasp. One might think them real epicures, but they are in fact true gluttons. The male has obtained possession of a Green winged Teal, while his mate has procured a Gadwall Duck. Their appetites are equal to their reckless daring and they well deserve the name of pirates which I have above bestowed upon them.

The Great-footed Hawk or Peregrine Falcon is now frequently to be met with in the United States, but within my remembrance it was a very scarce species in America. I can well recollect the
time when, if I shot one or two individuals of the species in the course of a whole winter, I thought myself a fortunate mortal; whereas of late years I have shot two in one day and perhaps a dozen in the course of a winter. It is quite impossible for me to account for this increase in their number, the more so that our plantations have equally increased and we have now three gunners for every one that existed twenty years ago, and all of them ready to destroy a hawk of any kind whenever an occasion presents itself.

The
flight of this bird is of astonishing rapidity. It is scarcely ever seen sailing unless after being disappointed in its attempt to secure the prey which it has been pursuing, and even at such times it merely rises with a broad spiral circuit to attain a sufficient elevation to enable it to reconnoiter a certain space below. It then emits a cry much resembling that of the Sparrow Hawk but greatly louder, like that of the European Kestrel, and flies off swiftly in quest of plunder. The search is often performed with a flight resembling that of the tame pigeon until, perceiving an object, it redoubles its flappings and pursues the fugitive with a rapidity scarcely to be conceived. Its turnings, windings and cuttings through the air are now surprising. It follows and nears the timorous quarry at every turn and back-cutting which the latter attempts. Arrived within a few feet of the prey, the Falcon is seen protruding his powerful legs and talons to their full stretch. His wings are for a moment almost closed; the next instant he grapples the prize which, if too weighty to be carried off directly, he forces obliquely towards the ground, sometimes a hundred yards from where it was seized, to kill it and devour it on the spot. Should this happen over a large extent of water, the Falcon drops his prey and sets off in quest of another. On the contrary, should it not prove too heavy, the exulting bird carries it off to a sequestered and secure place. He pursues the smaller Ducks, Water-hens and other swimming birds and if they are not quick in diving seizes them and rises with them from the water. I have seen this Hawk come at the report of a gun and carry off a Teal not thirty steps distant from the sportsman who had killed it, with a daring assurance as surprising as unexpected. This conduct has been observed by many individuals and is a characteristic trait of the species. The largest duck that I have seen this bird attack and grapple with on the wing is the Mallard.

The Great-footed Hawk does not however content himself with waterfowl. He is generally seen following the flocks of Pigeons and even Blackbirds, causing great terror in their ranks and forcing them to perform various aerial evolutions to escape the grasp of his dreaded talons. For several days I watched one of them that had taken a particular fancy to some tame pigeons, to secure which it went so far as to enter their house at one of the holes, seize a bird and issue by another hole in an instant, causing such terror among the rest as to render me fearful that they would abandon the place. However, I fortunately shot the depredator.

They occasionally feed on dead fish that have floated to the shores or sand bars. I saw several of them thus occupied while descending the Mississippi on a journey undertaken expressly for the purpose of observing and procuring different specimens of birds and which lasted four months as I followed the windings of that great river, floating down it only a few miles daily. During that period I and my companion counted upwards of fifty of these Hawks and killed several, among which was the female represented in the plate now before you, and which was found to contain in its stomach bones of birds, a few downy feathers, the gizzard of a Teal and the eyes and many scales of a fish. It was shot on the 26th December 1820. The ovary contained numerous eggs, two of which were as large as peas.

Whilst in quest of food, the Great-footed Hawk will frequently alight on the highest dead branch of a tree in the immediate neighborhood of such wet or marshy grounds as the Common Snipe resorts to by preference. His head is seen moving in short starts, as if he were counting every little space below; and while so engaged, the moment he spies a Snipe, down he darts like an arrow, making a rustling noise with his wings that may be heard several hundred yards off, seizes the Snipe and flies away to some near wood to devour it.

It is a cleanly bird in respect to feeding. No sooner is the prey dead than the Falcon turns its belly upward and begins to pluck it with his bill, which he does very expertly, holding it meantime quite fast in his talons; and as soon as a portion is cleared of feathers, tears the flesh in large pieces and swallows it with great avidity. If it is a large bird he leaves the refuse parts, but if small,
swallows the whole in pieces. Should he be approached by an enemy, he rises with it and flies off into the interior of the woods, or if he happens to be in a meadow, to some considerable distance, he being more wary at such times than when he has alighted on a tree.

The Great-footed Hawk is a heavy, compact and firmly built bird for its size and when arrived at maturity, extremely muscular with very tough flesh. The
plumage differs greatly according to age. I have seen it vary in different individuals from the deepest chocolate-brown to light grey. Their grasp is so firm that should one be hit while perched and not shot quite dead, it will cling to the branch until life has departed.

Like most other Hawks this is a solitary bird excepting during the
breeding season, at the beginning of which it is seen in pairs. Their season of breeding is so very early that it might be said to be in winter. I have seen the male caressing the female as early as the first days of December.

This species visits Louisiana during the winter months only; for although I have observed it mating then, it generally disappears a few days after and in a fortnight later none can be seen. It is scarce in the Middle states where, as well as in the Southern districts, it lives along watercourses and in the neighborhood of the shores of the sea and inland lakes. I should think that they breed in the United States, having shot a pair in the month of August near the Falls of Niagara. It is extremely tenacious of life and if not wounded in the wings, though mortally so in the body, it flies to the last gasp and does not fall until life is extinct. I never saw one of them attack a quadruped although I have frequently seen them perched within sight of squirrels, which I thought they might easily have secured had they been so inclined.

Once when nearing the coast of England, being then about a hundred and fifty miles distant from it in the month of July, I obtained a pair of these birds which had come on board our vessel and had been shot there. I examined them with care and found no difference between them and those which I had shot in America. They are at present scarce in England, where I have seen only a few. In
London some individuals of the species resort to the cupola of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the towers of Westminster Abbey to
roost and probably to breed. I have seen them depart from these places at day dawn and return in the evening.