MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 317 



Falco nigriceps Cassin, Illust. Birds of Cal., 87, 1853. — Cassin, Baird's Birds 

 ofN. Am., 1858. 



"One instance, St. Augustine, February, 18C8." Boardman. Mr. 

 Maynard found it rather common near Dummitt's, where he observed 

 its peculiar manner of capturing the ducks. Also well known to occur 

 in winter in Cuba and other of the West India Islands. 



In 1838, Bonaparte, in his "Geographical and Comparative List," gave 

 to the American peregrine or duck hawk the name Falco anatum. Pre- 

 vious to this time all writers had considered it, and it seems to me justly, as 

 identical with the European peregrine, or F. peregrinus, — an opinion still 

 held by many eminent ornithologists. Until about this date the peregrine 

 falcon was believed to have a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, but since 

 then the Australian and other supposed species have been separated from 

 it on grounds that it now seems should be reconsidered. Among these 

 supposed species is the Falco nigriccps of Cassin, first described in 1858, 

 from specimens received from California and Chili. These first specimens 

 were smaller, with the rufous color of the under parts in the young of a 

 stronger tint than in the so-called F. anatum, they more resembling the 

 African, Australian, and especially the Indian type of F. peregrinus. Speci- 

 mens since obtained from farther north, however, fully equal those from 

 Eastern North America, and the slight differences found to really exist 

 between them seem to be by no means ol specific value. 



Formerly a difference in breeding habits was supposed to obtain be- 

 tween the American and European peregrines, the American peregrine 

 being for a long time believed to breed in trees, whilst the European was 

 well known to nest on cliffs. Recently, however, the American bird has 

 been repeatedly found nesting in similar situations, but never yet in trees.* 



82. t Falco COlumbarius Linn€. Pigeon Hawk. 

 Falco columbarius Wilson and subsequent American writers generally. 

 Falco aisalon Swainson, Faun. Bor. Am., II, 35, pi. xxv, 1831. — Ncttall, 



Man. Orn., I, 60, 1832. 

 Falco temerarius Audubon, Orn. Biog., I, 381, pi. lxxv, 1832. 



" Frequent." Boardman. 



* For an account of the breeding habits and nesting-places of the American bird in 

 the Atlantic States, see the author's papers in Proc. Essex Inst., Vol. IV, pp. 153 - 161, 

 and American Naturalist, Vol. Ill, p. 514. The past summer (1870) its eggs have been 

 received by Mr. C. W. Bennett from Vermont. Prof. S. S. Haldeman was not only the 

 first naturalist who made known the fact of its breeding on cliffs, but of its breeding in 

 the United States. See Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. I, p. 54, July, 1841. 



