FALCONID/E — THE FALCONS. ^39 



tliis kind of game, it made several wide circles arninid tlie ship, ascended 

 to a considerable height, and departed in the direction of the Mexican shore. 



This Falcon is found along the Atlantic coast from Maine to the extreme 

 northern portion, l)reeding on the higli rocky cliffs of Grand Menan and in 

 various fa\"orable situations thence northward. A few breed on ilount Tom, 

 near the Connecticut Itiver in Massachusetts, on Talcott Mountain in 

 Connecticut, in Pennsylvania, and near Harper's Ferry, in Maryland. 



Mr. Boardman has several times taken their eggs from the cliffs of Grand 

 jVIenan, where they breed in April, or early in ]\Iay. In one instance he 

 found the nest in close proximity to that of a pair of Ravens, the two 

 families being apparently on terms of amity or mutual tolerance. 



For several years two or more pairs of these birds have been known to 

 breed regularly on Mount Tom, near JSTorthampton. The nests were placed 

 on the edges of precipitous rocks very early in the spring, the young having 

 been fully grown by the last of June. Their young and their eggs have 

 been taken year after year, yet at the last accounts they still continued to 

 nest in that locality. Dr. W. Wood has also found tliis species breeding on 

 Talcott Mountain, near Hartford. Four young were found, nearly fledged, 

 June 1. In one instance four eggs were taken from a nest on Mount Tom, by 

 Mr. C. W. Bennett, as early as April 19. This was in 1864. Several times 

 since he has taken their eggs from the same eyrie, though the Hawks have 

 at times deserted it and sought other retreats. In one year a pair was twice 

 robbed, and, as is supposed, made a third nest, and had unfledged young as 

 late as August. ^Ii'. Allen states that these Hawks repair to Mount Tom 

 very early in the spring, and carefully watch and defend their eyrie, mani- 

 festing even more alarm at this early period, when it is approached, than 

 they evince later, when it contains eggs or young. Mr, Bennett speaks of 

 the nest as a mere apology for one. 



This Hawk formerly nested on a high cliff near the house of Professor 

 S. S. Haldeman, Cokunbia, Penn., who several times ]irocured young birds 

 whicli had fallen from the nest. The birds remained about this cliff ten or 

 eleven months of the year, only disappearing during the coldest weather, 

 and returning with the first favorable change. They bred early in spring, 

 the young leaving the nest perhaps in May. Professor Haldeman was of the 

 opinion that but a single pair remained, the young disappearing in the 

 course of the season. 



Sir John Richardson, in his Arctic expedition in 1845, while descending 

 the Mackenzie River, latitude 65°, noticed what he presumed to be a nest of 

 this species, placed on the cliff of a sandstone rock. This Falcon was rare 

 on tliat river. 



Mr. ]MacFarlane found this species not uncommon on the banks of Lock- 

 hart and Anderson liiver.s, in the Arctic regions. In one instance he men- 

 tions finding a nest on a cliff thirty feet from tlie ground. There were four 

 eggs lying on a ledge of the shale of whicli the clifl' was composed. Botli 



