PIGEON HAWK, a small falcon (Falco columbarius), distributed throughout the em hemisphere. There are more than a dozen species scattered over the world, the two most common being the European representatives Hobby and Merlin; they prefer wooded culti vated districts, and usually follow in the train of the small migratory birds on which they prey; the flight is rapid and long sustained; the nest is made on trees or among rocks, and the eggs are from three to five. The American pigeon hawk is 12 to 14 inches long and about 25 in alar extent; the male smaller. The gen eral color is bluish slate, every feather with a longitudinal black line; forehead and throat white; below pale yellowish or reddish white, each feather with a longitudinal line of brown ish black; the tibiae are light ferruginous, with black lines; quills black, with ashy white tips; tail light bluish ash, tipped with white, with a wide subterminal black band and several narrower bands of the same; cere and legs yellow and bill bluish; the variations in plu mage, according to age and locality, are con. siderable. It is found over all temperate North America, Central and the northern part of South America, and breeds in' the north. It is the boldest of any hawk of its size, pouncing on thrushes, wild pigeons, woodpeckers, snipe and even teals, but preying chiefly on birds of the size of the red-winged blackbird and sora rail. It rarely attacks poultry, yet has been known to seize cage-birds hung in the porches of houses even in crowded cities. The nest,
placed in some thickly foliaged tree, is coarsely constructed of sticks and mosses, resembling that of a crow; the eggs measure about one and three-fourths by one and one-half inches, and are nearly spherical; the color is not a very clear white, and there are a few bold irregular dashes of light yellowish brown,' chiefly about the smaller end.
The pigeon hawk, says Stejneger, is very closely allied to, if not identical with, the Euro pean merlin (F. lithofalco); these two forms, with the East Indian turumti (F. chiquera), and its South African race (F. ruficollis), are frequently regarded as a separate genus ,Esalos. Consult Fisher, A. K., 'Hawks and Owls of the United States' (Washington 1893).
the fruit of the leguminous shrub Cajansis indices, a native of India, but now cultivated in tropical Africa and the West Indies. There are two varieties, distinguished as bicolor and flavus. The former reaches a height of from three to six feet, and has yellow flowers with crimson markings; the latter is larger, sometimes attaining a height of 10 feet, and its flowers are of a uniform yellow color. In India the pigeon-pea forms a pulse of gen eral use. The former variety is called also Angola pea and Kongo pea.