186 Birds of Colorado 



fulvous above, aud are more heavily spotted below, while the white 

 of the under-parts is distinctly tinged \v'ith ochraceous. 



Distribution.^ — Western North America from southern British Columbia 

 and western Manitoba, south to central Texas, and thence west to 

 the Pacific. 



The Prairie-Falcon is a moderately common bird in Colorado, chiefly 

 perhaps on the eastern plains, but found also in the mountains, occasion- 

 ally even up to timber line where Kellogg observed one above Estes 

 Park. Cooke classes it as a resident, but the greater number of the 

 birds doubtless go south in winter, and I have not been able to find 

 any winter dates for Colorado. The following are the chief records : 

 Pawnee Buttes in Weld co., breeding (Dille), Boulder co., breeding 

 (Gale), Deer Creek, near Littleton, nesting (Richards), El Paso co. 

 (Aiken coll.). Twin Lakes, rare (Scott), Wet Mountains up to 10,000 

 feet (Lowe), near Fort Lewis, rare (Oilman). 



Habits. — The Prairie -Falcon or American Lanner is a 

 noble bird, chiefly met with on the open plains, where 

 it may be seen perched on a high cotton-wood or a 

 telegraph pole, on the look-out for its prey. This con- 

 sists of jack-rabbits, prairie-dogs and other mammals, as 

 well as birds of moderate size, such as the Mourning Dove 

 and Blackbird. It is strong, bold and tenacious of life, 

 and its flight is easy and very rapid. Dille found a nest 

 on the top of a chimney of sandstone in some buttes 

 in the north of Weld county, on May 25th ; it was an 

 immense pile of rubbish, with skeletons and dead animals 

 scattered round, and contained only one egg. Gale 

 took four eggs of this species from an old eagle's nest 

 on April 24th, in a cliff on the Little Thompson River, 

 the situation was about fifty feet from the bottom, 

 and thirty feet from the top of the cliff ; he also found 

 another nest in a similar position on the St. Vrain. 

 The eggs are oval and rather light-coloured for Falcon's 

 eggs. The ground-colouring is creamy-white, rather 

 heavily blotched with various reds and browns. In size 

 they average 2*2 x 1'6, and the clutch numbers three 

 to five. 



