part i

. p. 415.

Adult Male, in summer plumage. Plate CXCV. Fig. 1.

Bill short, straight, subulate, very slender, compressed, with inflected edges; upper mandible nearly straight in its dorsal outline, the edges scarcely notched close upon the slightly declinate acute tip; lower mandible straight, acute. Nostrils basal, elliptical, half-closed above by a membrane, covered over by the feathers. The whole form is slender, although the bird looks somewhat bulky, on account of the loose texture of the feathers. Legs rather long; tarsus slender; longer than the middle toe, much compressed, covered anteriorly with a few indistinct scutella; toes scutellate above, the lateral ones nearly equal and free; hind toe stouter; claws weak, compressed, arched, acute.

Plumage very loose and tufty. Short bristles at the base of the bill. Feathers of the head elongated, silky. Wings of ordinary length, the third and fourth primaries longest. Tail of twelve feathers, emarginate, of ordinary length.

Bill black, yellow at the base of the lower, and on the edges of the upper mandible. Iris light brown. Feet yellowish-brown, the under parts yellow. The general colour of the upper parts is dull olivaceous, lighter behind. The eye is encircled with greyish-white, of which colour also are the tips of the wing-coverts. Quills and tail dusky, edged with greenish-yellow. The silky feathers of the crown of the head vermilion. The under parts greyish-white.

Length 4¼ inches, extent of wings 6; bill ⅓; tarsus ¾.

Adult Female, in summer plumage. Plate CXCV. Fig. 2.

The female resembles the male, but the tints are in general duller, especially the greenish-yellow of the wings.

THE NARROW-LEAVED KALMIA, OR LAUREL.

KALMIA ANGUSTIFOLIA, _Willd._ Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 601.—_Pursh_, Fl. Amer. vol. i. p. 296.—DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA, _Linn._ RHODODENDRA, _Juss._

This species is characterized by its petiolate, ternate, cuneato-oblong leaves, which are obtuse and tinged with red beneath. The corymbs of beautiful deep rose-coloured flowers are lateral; the peduncles and calyx downy, and the bracteæ smooth. It grows to the height of two or even sometimes four feet, and is common in the Northern States and British Provinces; flowers from the end of June to the middle of August.

THE MERCHANT OF SAVANNAH.

I left the little port of St Augustine, in East Florida, on the 5th of March 1832, in the packet schooner, the Agnes, bound for Charleston. The weather was fair, and the wind favourable; but on the afternoon of the second day, heavy clouds darkened the heavens, and our sails hung flapping against the masts. Nature, with an angry aspect, seemed to be breathing for a moment, before collecting her energies, to inflict some signal punishment on guilty man. Our captain was an old and experienced seaman. I alternately watched his eye and the distant cloud; both were black, firm, and determined. Satisfied as to our safety, the vessel being perfectly sound, and the crew composed of young active men, I determined to remain on deck, and witness the scene that was about to present itself. The rest of the passengers had withdrawn when the cloud approached the vessel. The captain went up to the helmsman, and in a twinkling the sails were furled excepting one, which was so closely reefed, that it no longer resembled its former self. In another minute, down came the blast upon us, sweeping the spray over the vessel, and driving her along at a furious rate. It increased; all on board was silent; but onward, unscathed, sped the Agnes, driving through the snow-topped waves. I cannot tell you at what rate we were carried by the gale, but at the end of a few hours, the blue sky again appeared, and the anchor was dropped in the mouth of the Savannah River.

Landing there, I presented my credentials to an officer of the Engineer Corps, who was engaged in building a fort. He received me with great politeness, invited me to spend the night at his quarters, and promised to have his barge ready at dawn to convey my party to Savannah. We, however, accepted only the proffered favour of the boat, and having purchased some "shads," returned to the Agnes, where we slept.

The morning was beautiful, and we felt cheerful and buoyant as we ascended the stream in the barge. Thousands of Canvass-backed Ducks swam gracefully in pairs over the broad waters; from the adjoining rice-fields rose myriads of Grakles, Red-wings, and Ortolans, as we approached the shores, while now and then the great Heron opened its broad blue wings, and with a hoarse scream rose slowly into the air. Presently we passed a ship at anchor, and now opened on our view the city of Savannah, where we soon landed.

Repairing to a hotel, I immediately took a seat in the mail, in order to proceed directly to Charleston; but happening to have a letter of introduction from the Rathbones of Liverpool, to a merchant in the city, to whom I had already written, and to whose care I had several times taken the liberty of consigning my baggage trunks, I resolved to wait upon him, and return him my thanks. In the company of a gentleman, who kindly offered to guide me, I therefore proceeded, and was fortunate enough to meet him on the street. The merchant took my arm under his, and as we proceeded, talked of the many demands of money made on him for charitable purposes, the high price of the "Birds of America," and his inability to subscribe for that work, concluding with telling me, that he much doubted if even a single purchaser could be got in Savannah.

My spirits were sadly depressed, for my voyage to the Floridas had been expensive and unprofitable, not having been undertaken at the proper season; and I confess I thought more of my family than of what the gentleman said to me. However, we reached his counting-house, where I met with Major Le Conte of the United States Army, with whom I was previously acquainted. Our conversation turned on the difficulties which authors have to encounter even in their own country. I observed that the merchant was extremely attentive, and at length seemed uneasy. He rose from his seat, spoke to his clerk, and sat down again. The Major took his leave, and I was about to follow him, when the merchant addressing himself to me, said he could not conceive why the arts and sciences should not be encouraged by men of wealth in our country. The clerk now returned and handed him some papers, which he transferred to me, saying, "I subscribe to your work; here is the price of the first volume; come with me, I know you now, and I will procure you some others; every one of us is bound to you for the knowledge you bring to us of things, which, without your zeal and enterprise, might probably never have reached us. I will now make it my duty to serve you, and will be your agent in this city. Come along."

"Thus, poor AUDUBON, art thou alternately transported from a cold to a warm climate, from one mood to another, desponding this morning, and now buoyant with the hopes inspired by this generous merchant!" Such, reader, were the thoughts that filled my mind, along with many others; for I thought of you also, and of my work then going on in England, under the care of my excellent friend J. G. CHILDREN, Esq. of the British Museum. The merchant took me back to the hotel, when he desired me to open the few drawings I had with me, and lay them, as I usually do, on the floor. He then went off in search of subscribers. I received three visits from the worthy soul, on each of which he was accompanied by a gentleman, of whom two subscribed, the merchant himself paying me the price of a copy of my first volume for each of them. Others who he thought might have met my wishes in the same agreeable way, were absent from town. The time of my departure having arrived, he accompanied me to the ferry boat, when I bade him adieu with feelings of gratitude which I found it utterly impossible to express.

Travelling through the woods, already rendered delightfully fragrant by the clusters of yellow jessamines that bordered them, I arrived in safety at Charleston, where I had the happiness of finding all my friends well. The next mail brought me a remittance from Savannah, and an additional name to my list of subscribers; and before the week was ended, two checks on the Branch Bank of the United States came to me with two more names.

Leaving Charleston some time after, I revisited the Floridas, crossed the whole of the Union, went to Labrador, and in October 1833, returned to my starting place, when I wrote to my generous friend at Savannah, announcing to him my intention of sailing for Europe. By return of post I received the following answer:—"Three of your subscribers are now, alas! dead; but I had taken the precaution to insure the continuation of their subscription for your works. I have called on their executors, who at once have paid over to me their respective amounts for the second volume of the 'Birds of America;' and I now feel great pleasure in enclosing to you a bill for the whole amount, including mine for the same volume, payable in London at par."

Some weeks ago I had the pleasure of forwarding the volumes wanted at Savannah, which I hope have reached their destination in safety; and here let me express my gratitude towards the generous merchant, who, on being made aware of the difficulties which men have to encounter whose success in their pursuits tends to excite the malevolent feelings of their competitors, nobly resolved to exert himself in the cause of science. I trust he will not consider it improper in me to inform you, that on inquiring at Savannah for WILLIAM GASTON, Esq. you will readily find him.

THE ICELAND OR JER FALCON.

_FALCO ISLANDICUS_, LATH.

PLATE CXCVI. MALE AND FEMALE.

On the 6th August 1833, while my young friends, THOMAS LINCOLN and JOSEPH COOLEDGE, accompanied by my son JOHN, were rambling by the rushing waters of a brook banked by stupendous rocks, eight or ten miles from the port of Bras d'Or, on the coast of Labrador, they were startled by a loud and piercing shriek, which issued from the precipices above them. On looking up, my son observed a large hawk plunging over and about him. It was instantly brought to the ground. A second hawk dashed towards the dead one, as if determined to rescue it; but it quickly met the same fate, the contents of my son's second barrel bringing it to his feet.

The nest of these hawks was placed on the rocks, about fifty feet from their summit, and more than a hundred from their base. Two other birds of the same species, and apparently in the same plumage, now left their eyry in the cliff, and flew off. The party having ascended by a circuitous and dangerous route, contrived to obtain a view of the nest, which, however, was empty. It was composed of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, about two feet in diameter, and almost flat. About its edges were strewed the remains of their food, and beneath, on the margin of the stream, lay a quantity of wings of the _Uria Troile_, _Mormon arcticus_, and _Tetrao Saliceti_, together with large pellets composed of fur, bones, and various substances.

My son and his companions returned to the Ripley towards evening. The two hawks which they had brought with them, I knew at once to be of a species which I had not before seen, at least in America. Think not that I laid them down at once—No, reader, I attentively examined every part of them. Their eyes, which had been carefully closed by the young hunters, I opened, to observe their size and colour. I drew out their powerful wings, distended their clenched talons, looked into their mouths, and admired the sharp tooth-like process of their upper mandible. I then weighed them in my hand, and at length concluded that no Hawk that I had ever before handled, looked more like a great Peregrine Falcon.

At day-dawn, the same party, highly elated with their success of the former day, were dispatched in quest of the other two; but although a third specimen was shot, it flew off to a great distance, fell among the deep moss, and was never found. Several visits to the nest proved fruitless. The parents I had, and the last young had probably for ever abandoned the place of its birth.

While we remained in Labrador, I was ever on the watch for hawks, and I frequently inspected the country around with a telescope, to try if I could discover some object worthy of my attention. I several times observed the individuals which I have portrayed, ranging high in the air, over an island where multitudes of Puffins were breeding. Many were the instances in which I saw these warriors descend like a streak of lightning, pounce on a Puffin, and carry it off in their talons. Their aerial course I also marked, and was thus enabled to trace them to their habitation.

Their flight resembled that of the Peregrine Falcon, but was more elevated, majestic, and rapid. They rarely sailed when travelling to and fro, between their nest and the island mentioned, but used a constant beat of their wings. When over the Puffins, and high in the air, they would hover almost motionless, as if watching the proper moment to close their pinions, and when that arrived, they would descend almost perpendicularly on their unsuspecting victims.

Their cries also resembled those of the Peregrine Falcon, being loud, shrill, and piercing. Now and then they would alight on some of the high stakes placed on the shore as beacons to the fishermen who visit the coast, and stand for a few minutes, not erect like most other Hawks, but in the position of a Lestris or Tern, after which they would resume their avocations, and pounce upon a Puffin, which they generally did while the poor bird was standing on the ground at the very entrance of its burrow, apparently quite unaware of the approach of its powerful enemy. The Puffin appeared to form no impediment to the flight of the Hawk, which merely shook itself after rising in the air, as if to arrange its plumage, as the Fish Hawk does when it has emerged from the water with a fish in its talons.

The four Falcons mentioned were all that were seen of this species during our expedition, and I am inclined to think that these birds must be rare in that part of Labrador. On dissecting them, I found them to be a male and a female, and saw that the latter had laid eggs that season. It is therefore probable that the two which left the nest at the approach of the party were the young birds.

I made my drawing of them the day after their death. It was one of the severest tasks which I ever performed, and was done under the most disagreeable circumstances. I sat up nearly the whole of the night, to sketch them in outline. The next day it rained for hours, and the water fell on my paper and colours all the while from the rigging of the Ripley.

The weight of the female was 3 pounds 2 ounces, that of the male 2 pounds 14 ounces avoirdupois. Their flesh was tough and bluish, and their whole structure was remarkable for the indications of strength which it exhibited. The intestines measured 4 feet 9 inches. The heart was extremely large, and very remarkable for its firmness. The liver also was large. The stomach, which was thin, contained remains of fish, feathers, and hair.

From the account which I received from my son and his companions, I would willingly suppose that no one had ever before disturbed their solitude. They flew about and close to them, as if altogether unacquainted with the effects of a gun. The young appeared full grown, and, as if aware of the fate of their parents, alighted only on the highest and most inaccessible parts of the rocks around. Both the specimens procured were carefully skinned and preserved. One is in my possession; the other I gave to my worthy and generous friend JOHN BACHMAN.

When I first saw this noble pair of Falcons, I thought, as I have above said, that they were new; but since my return to Europe, I have seen several specimens, which, though not altogether similar in the tints of the plumage, agree in most other respects with them, in so far as I can judge from the comparison of skins shrunk or distended beyond measure, such as we too often see in museums. These specimens are said to be young birds of the famous Iceland Falcon, and I am disposed to think that my birds belong to the same species.

That this species, as well as many others, should mate and produce young, before obtaining its full plumage, is not a singular phenomenon. I am persuaded that many years elapse before it obtains its perfect plumage, from the remarks made by a gentleman not yet personally known to me, although acquainted with my son VICTOR, Mr JOHN HEPPENSTALL, of Upper Thorpe, near Sheffield, who has kept one of these birds alive for more than three years. Of his letter to my son, which is dated "5th month 14th 1834," the following is an extract. "The bird thou saw when at my house is yet living, in perfect health, which it has always been in since I possessed it. I have now had it a little more than three years. It came over from Iceland in a whaler to Hull, and was presented by the owner of the vessel to a friend of mine, from whom I obtained it. I believe it must have been a bird of the preceding year's brood. It is therefore four years old, not less certainly, and may be considered adult. It has always moulted early, and has already cast a number of its primary quill-feathers, and several of the scapulars, although not disfigured. It is a very powerful, strong bird, and were it to be carried such a distance in confinement, it would struggle so much, that I am afraid it would very much injure its this year's moult at this time, and I think thou should have much difficulty in securing it. I shall now describe the bird, that thy father may be able to judge how far it may probably be of the same species as the one he has lately discovered and brought out.

"In length I should think it does not much exceed the Rough-legged Falcon, but in every other respect is larger, being very broad and powerful, the legs and thighs much stronger and formidable. When seen with its head towards you, in the act of tearing its food, it conveys an idea of very great power. Its breadth, and particularly its powerful thighs, are then seen to very great advantage. The legs and feet are very much the type of the Peregrine Falcon, and indeed the whole form of the bird, only that it is so much stronger, even more than its increased bulk alone would occasion. It has always got through the moult very well and nothing can be more perfect than its general state of plumage, and it is a very cleanly bird.

"The head, neck, throat, breast, belly, and legs (which are feathered to within an inch of the toes), are the most pure white, and the plumage very compact. The first year I had it, all these parts were slightly marked with delicate pencilled lines lengthwise, but have now totally disappeared, except one or two faint ones on the outside of the thighs. The back and tail are also pure white; the two middle feathers of the tail are a little barred on each side the shaft, which is dark coloured, as also the primary quills of the wings. The back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and primary quills, are all elegantly marked with a dark mouse colour, the markings on the primary quills, which are chiefly towards the tip, approach nearly to black. The tail when closed is a little rounded at the tip; the under side of the wings and vent pure white. The bill, which is notched in a very graceful form, is pale blue, inclining to black at the tip and also at the notchings. Cere, orbits, and legs, yellow, which seems to increase in depth. When I first had it, they were not then tinged with yellow, but the colour of a very white-legged fowl: claws black and powerful, inner one largest. The eye, which is exceedingly bright and piercing, and does not appear to have changed, seems black, but on close inspection, in a good light, is evidently dark-brown. Between the cere and the orbits, and under the eye, the hairy feathers, which lie close, and are pure white, are intermixed with hairs of black, which lie pretty close to the head.

"Were I to guess the weight, I should say it was double that of the Rough-legged Falcon. The wings reach nearly to the tip of the tail."

The above detailed account appears to me to furnish a better description of the adult Jer Falcon than any that I have met with, and cannot fail to be acceptable to ornithologists.

On inquiring of a Mr JONES, who had been a resident in Labrador for twenty years, I was informed that these Hawks feed on and destroy an immense number of hares, Rock Partridges, and Willow Grous; but he could not give me any information as to the change of plumage, never having seen them in any other state than that of the individuals represented in my plate, which I shewed to him. The fishermen called them Duck Hawks, and some of them reported many exploits performed by them, which I think it unnecessary to repeat, as I considered them exaggerated.

FALCO ISLANDICUS, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. p. 32. Adult—F. RUSTICOLUS, Idem, p. 28. Adult—F. GYRFALCO, Idem, p. 32. Young.—F. SACER, F. OBSCURUS, and F. LAGOPUS β, Idem.—_Temminck_, Manuel, part i . p. 17.—_Swains. and Richards._ Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 27.

GYRFALCON, FALCO ISLANDICUS, _Nuttall_, Manual,