FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



167 



the Pacific, and from the Dakotas south to Mexico ; casually to Illinois. 

 Breeds throughout its United .States rano-e. 



Nest. — Usually on ledges of rocky cliffs. J^ggs : 8 to 5, usually creamy 

 white, blotched and spotted with reddish brown, spots sometimes covering 

 whole surface. 



Food. — Birds, mammals, reptiles, and the larg'er insects. 



Over the western plains and sagebrush desert country one often 

 sees a small, trimly-built, sharp-winged hawk dashing about in the 

 air, and on scanning the rugged cliffs discerns a white streak high 

 on the rock wall and with a field glass a niche above in which per- 

 haps the edge of a nest or the heads of young may be seen. Some- 

 times you will hear the high-pitched call, kee, kee, kee, as the old 

 ])irds circle around above their aerie. As they hover about the cliffs 

 their neat forms and quick, hard wing beats are so characteristic 

 that they could be mistaken for no other bird, unless perhaps the 

 duck hawk. Their nests are usually placed in the most inaccessible 

 parts of high cliffs, and the birds are closely associated with many of 

 the grandest western landscapes. 



The falcons are bold freebooters when a farmyard happens to lie 

 in the valley below and their hungry young are calling, but ordi- 

 narily ground scjuirrels and other small rodents supply most of their 

 food. The few birds they get are mostly caught on the wing. One 

 that shot past me in pursuit of a flock of Gambel quails in southern 

 Utah struck a quail from the flock with such force as to knock it 

 to the ground amid a cloud of feathers, but fortunately for the 

 quail it landed in the brush, where it escaped. Vernon Bailey. 



Subgenus Rhynchodon. 



Tarsus only slightly feathered in front. 

 broadly bare behind ; not longer tlnin 

 middle toe without claw. 



356. Falco peregrinus anatum 

 {H'DKij).). Dick Hawk. 

 Adults. — Sides of head and neck black. 

 in striking contrast to white or huffy of 

 throat and breast ; rest of under ])!irts 

 deeper colored and spotted or barred 

 witli blackish : tnj) of lucid sooti/ hldck. 

 rt-st of' itj)/)ir parts shit if blue, lighter on 

 rtnn]). iiulistinetlv barred with <lusky ; 

 wing (juills blackish, inner webs of (|uills 

 spotted reg-ulailv witli buffv or yellow- 

 ish brown ; tail blackish. cros.sed by S to 

 10 light grayish bars, and with narrow 

 white tip. Yoniui : under parts yellowish 



brown or reddisb brown, beavilv streake<l , „ , , , , ^ ,. . r 



witli dark brown ; u]))»er jKirts hlackisli. A«nculturi-. 



featbers edged with rustv ; XaW spotted Kijf. '2;V>. 



