FAT.Ci^XTD.T; — TTTE KA I,( ONS. 1 53 



Falco (csidoii, were found "several rull-sizeil wliite eggs, clouded at one end 

 by a few hronze-colured spots." A nest was found by Mr. Clieney at Cfrand 

 Menan, from wliioli he shot wliat he iiresunied to be tlw, parent bird of tliis 

 species. Its four eggs agreeil with tlie descriptions given by Hutchins and 

 Eichardson niucli nu)re nearly than with the eggs of this species. The eggs 

 found by Mr. Cheney may liave been \-ery small eggs of A. coopcri, in which 

 case the presence of the coluvibarius on the nest cannot be so easily ex- 

 plained. 



Three eggs, two from Aiulerson River and one from Crreat Slave Lake, 

 range from 1.5:) to 1.60 inches in length, and from 1.20 to 1.22 in breadth, 

 their average measurements being 1.5G by 1.21. They have a ground-color 

 of a rich reddish-cream, very generally co\-ered with blotches anil finer 

 markings of reddish-brown, deej^ening in ]>laces almost into blackness, and 

 varying greatly in the dei)th of its shading, witli a few lines of black. In 

 one the red-brown is largely replaced by very tine markings of a yellowish 

 sepia-brown, so generally diffused as to conceal the ground and give to it 

 the appearance of a light buff. Mr. Eidgway, after a careful analysis of the 

 varying markings and sizes of twenty-one eggs, has kindly given the fol- 

 lowing : — 



" Extremes of twenty-one eggs (mainly from Forts Yukon, Anderson, Eeso- 

 lution, and MacKenzie rivers) : largest (10,687, Yukon, June), 1.75 X 1.28 ; 

 smallest (8,808, Anderson Eiver, June), 1.55 X 1.20. The ground-color varies 

 from creamy-white to deep piu'plish-rufous, there being one egg (4,090, Great 

 Slave Lake, June 6, 1860) entirely and uniforndy of the latter color ; the 

 lightest egg (normally marked, 2,663, Saskatchewan) is creamy-white, thickly 

 sprinkled with dilute and deep shades uf sepia-brown, thickly on large end, 

 and sparsely, as well as more finely, on the smaller end. Tlie markings vary 

 in color from dilute indian-red to blackish-chestnut. 



" H. richardsoiii is larger than colurnbarms, and probably has a larger egg. 

 There are no eggs such as Eichardson describes in the series of cohimharius 

 in the Smithsonian Collection." 



The var. rivhurdtioni was recognized by Richardson as distinct from the 

 more connnon columharms ; and a single specimen, killed at Carlton House, 

 and submitted to Swainson, was pronounced by him, beyond doubt, identical 

 with the common Merlin of Europe. Other specimens have since been 

 procured, and are now in the Smithsonian Collection. They are recognized 

 by Mr. Eidgway as identical with Eichardson's bird, but (juite distinct from 

 the j^scdon of authors. He has named the species in honor of its first dis- 

 coverer. Of its history ami habits little is known. A single pair were 

 seen by Richardson in the neighborhood of Carlton House, in May, 1827, 

 and the female was shot. In the oviduct there were several full-sized white 

 eggs, clouded at one end with a few bronze-colored spots. Another speci- 

 men, jirobably also a female, was shot at the Sault St. Marie, between Lakes 

 Huron and Superior, but this was not preserved. 



vol,. III. 20 



