I think pigeon hawk most likely refers to an accipter.
Cheers,
Bill Hull
Cincinnati, OH, USA


On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 10:12 AM, Danielle <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I think I have to agree that in this case stone-falcon is peregrine, because I think the pigeon hawk refers to the merlin in that quote.
>
> --- On Wed, 7/14/10, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Stone-falcon
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 9:33 AM
>
> The trouble with such colorful colloquial animal names is that they
> are often ambiguous. Old references to the "French mockingbird" can
> refer either to the brown thrasher or the loggerhead shrike, for example.
>        American ornithologists have been trying to banish colloquial names for
> 150 years--with pretty good success among birders, and in published
> sources--in favor of standardized names. This has helped prevent
> ambiguity. Their insistence we all capitalize these Bird Names has been
> less successful, though.
>        Another source of confusion is between English and US names.
> "Windhover" is an example: it has a long history as the colloquial name
> of what is now called the Eurasian kestrel, and because of the
> similarity of the species was often applied to the American kestrel in
> the old days.
>        I have a hobby of collecting these odd names, and for others interested
> I can recommend two sources of oodles of them: first the Dictionary of
> American Regional English, a superb multi-volume reference  so large and
> expensive you'll find it only in a good library, and J. K. Sayre's less
> scholarly but voluminous "North American Bird Folknames and Names." For
> example, the latter volume offers the following synonyms for the
> peregrine falcon (note, especially in view of its range, that
> French-Canadian and native American versions are included): Aile
> Pointue, American Peregrine, Batarde Aigle, Beau Voleur, Bullet Hawk,
> Duck Hawk, Eagle Hawk, Falcon, Faucon, Falcon Peregrino, Frappe Canard,
> Great-footed Hawk, Hinkelwoi, Mangeur de Canards, Mangeur des Poules,
> Peale's Falcon, Peregrine Hawk, Pinnacle Hawk, Rock Peregrine, Sea Hawk,
> Tercel, Wandering Falcon, Woi."  [Sayre is so sold on capital names for
> birds he imposes them even on idiomatic ones.] Other names I've found
> include: ledge hawk, bluesleeves, gentel, haggard, game hawk, goose
> hawk, hunting hawk, lanner, perry hawk, saker, slight-falcon, tassel,
> trammel-hawk, cliff-hawk. There are surely many more.
>        Anyway, the multiple slippery names of birds in use over the centuries
> make it difficult to clarify the historical status of birds, and this is
> a good example. Just as a guess, the peregrine's known preference for
> high cliffs as nesting sites, versus the merlin's easy acceptance of
> trees, makes you think "stone-falcon" is more likely to refer to the
> former. But not for sure. And that's the point.
> Bill Whan
> Columbus
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Kathi Hutton wrote:
>> I was fascinated by Tom Bain's historic reference to a bird pf prey
>> referred to as a stone-falcon:  "Of other birds of prey, there are to
>> be found here the hawk, the stone-falcon, that remains near the
>> rocks..."  and did a little Google search.  From what I read, Stone
>> falcon is an old British term for Merlin, not Peregrine.  I found it
>> at this site:  http://www.birdforum.net/archive/index.php/t-6640.html
>> along with a number of other out-dated bird names, including Wood
>> Pie, Summer Snipe, and Windhover.
>>
>> ~Kathi Hutton Clermont County, SW Ohio
>>
>> Visit me at: http://katdocsworld.blogspot.com/
>>
>
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