KALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. 151 



Dr. Heerinann once found one of these birds just preparing to fc^ed on a 

 large and plump California Partridge. 



In Tamaulipas, ^Me.xico, where Lieutenant Couch found it quite conunon, 

 he speaks of it as being very quiet, tlyiug but little, and generally watching 

 for its (piarry from the limb of a dry tree. Mr. Audubon makes no mention 

 of any peculiarities of liabits. JNIr. Nuttall was evidently uufamiliar with 

 it, stating it to be unkuown in Xew England, and a resi<lent of the Southern 

 States only. 



In Nova Scotia, Mr. iJownes speaks of it as conunon, breeding in all the 

 wooded parts of the country. It is said to lie not troublesome to the farmer, 

 but to feed upon the smaller birds. He mentions that once, on his voyage 

 to Boston, one of these birds Hew aboard and allowed itself to be captured, 

 and was kept alive and fed readily, but soon after escaped. 



Mr. B. E. Ross, in his notes on the birds and nests obtained by him in the 

 country about Fort Eesolution, Lapierre House, and Good Hojie, mentions 

 this bird as the most common of the true Falcons iu that district, where it 

 ranges to the Arctic coast. Its nest is said to be composed of sticks, grass, 

 and moss, and to be built generally in a thick tree, at no great elevation. 

 'J'lie eggs, he adds, are from five to seven in number, 1.60 inches in length 

 by 1.20 in breadth. Their ground-color he describes as a light reddish-buff, 

 clouded with deep chocolate and reddish-brown blotches, more thickly 

 spread at tlie larger end of the egg, where the under tint is almost entirely 

 concealed by them. This description is given from three eggs procured with 

 their parent at Fort Eesolution. 



From Mr. MacFarlane's notes, made from his observations in the Anderson 

 Eiver country, we gather tliat one nest was ibund on the ledge of a cliff of 

 shaly luud on the banks of the Anderson Eiver ; another nest was on a pine- 

 tree, eight or nine feet from the ground, and conrposed (jf a few dry willow- 

 twigs and some half-decayed hay, etc. It was within two lumdred yards of 

 the river-Viank. A third nest was in the midst of a small bushy branch of a 

 l)ine-tree, and was ten feet from tlie groiind. It was composed of coarse 

 liay, lined with some of a finer equality, but was far from being well arranged. 

 -Mr. 'MacFarlane was confident that it had never been used before by a Crow 

 or by any other bird. The oviduct of the female contained an egg ready to 

 be laid. It was colored like the otliers, but the shell was still soft, and ad- 

 liered to the fingers on being touched. In another instance the eggs were 

 found on a ledge of shale in a cliff on the bank, without anything under 

 them in the way of lining. He adds that they are even more abundant 

 along the lianks of the IMcKenzie than on tlie Anderson Eiver. 



Mr. MacFarlane narrates that on the 25tli of May an Indian in liis em- 

 ploy found a nest placed in the midst of a pine branch, six feet from the 

 ground, loosely made of a few dry sticks and a small quantity of coarse hay. 

 It then contained two eggs. Both parents were seen, but wlien fired at ^\•ere 

 missed. On the olst he revisited the nest, which still contained only two 



