282 GEOLOGICAL SURVT:Y OF CANADA. 



357a. Black Merlin. 



Falco columharius suckleyi Ridgw. 1873. 



A common summer resident along the coast of British Columbia. 

 Abundant on Vancouver island. {Fannin.) Resident in the lower 

 Fraser valley; commoner than the pigeon hawk. (Brooks.) One 

 seen at Sooke, Vancouver island, August, 1893 ; one taken at Douglas, 

 B.C., in 1906. (Spreadborough.) Examples seen on the coast should 

 be classed under this name, though Mr. Fannin has both forms 

 west of the Coast range. A specimen from Victoria is in the collec- 

 tion. (RJioads.) A small dark hawk was indistinctly seen flitting 

 from the top of a spruce, Cumeshewa inlet, Queen Charlotte islands. 

 Mr. Keen reports it from Massett. (Osgood.) 



358. Richardson Merlin. 



Falco richardsonii Ridgw. 1870. 



One specimen, the only individual of this species observed, was 

 taken on the headwaters of the Mouse (Souris) river (near the Inter- 

 national Boundary, lat. 49°), 8th September, 1873. (Coues.) 

 During the first week of May, 1904, I observed several pairs of 

 these birds in poplars along the Belly river, Alta. (W. J. Brown.) 

 Rare at Aweme, Man., in late autumn, winter and early spring. 

 (Criddle.) One specimen was shot by the writer at "the elbow" 

 of the South Saskatchewan, Sask., 9th September, 1880. 



A single pair was seen in the neighbourhood 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- 

 coloured spots. The specimen killed at Carlton House is, beyond 

 doubt, an old female merlin just beginning to have its new feathers. 

 (Richardson.) Carlton House was situated about lat. 53° on the 

 North Saskatchewan, about 100 miles north of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway. Macfarlane had no certainty of the occurrence of this 

 species on the Anderson river, and I am inclined to believe that only 

 stragglers reach the North Saskatchewan. Nutting records it from 

 the Grand rapids of the Saskatchewan. 



Taken at Chilliwack on the Fraser by Mr. Brooks and near Victoria 

 by Mr. A. H. May. (Fannin.) Occurs in migrations only, both 

 east and west of the Coast range, B.C.; a few individuals seen at 



