96 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



FALCO FUSCO-COERULESCENS SEPTENTRIONALIS Todd 

 APLOMADO FALCON 

 HABITS 



This handsome little falcon, with its two closely allied races, is 

 widely distributed throughout nearly all of South and Central America. 

 Our northern race is found in Mexico, and probably in Yucatan and 

 Guatemala; its range northward barely crosses our southwestern 

 border in southern Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Its haunts are 

 the open plains, with growths of mesquite, yucca, and cactus. 



Nesting. — Dr. J. C. Merrill (1878) found two nests near Browns- 

 ville, Tex. The nest found on June 16, 1877, was "placed in the top of 

 a low Spanish bayonet growing in Palo Alto prairie" ; it "was a slightly 

 depressed platform of twigs, with a little grass for lining. The eggs, 

 three in number, were rotten, though containing well-developed 

 embryoes." The second nest, found on May 7, 1878, was similar 

 in situation and construction, "except that the yucca was higher, the 

 top being about twelve feet from the ground. The eggs were three 

 in number, all well advanced but one, with a dead embryo." 



Major Bendire (1892) writes that Lt. Harry C. Benson found this 

 falcon "fairly common" in the vicinity of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, 

 and says: "Five nests were found by the lieutenant during the spring 

 of 1887, all of them placed in low mesquite trees from 7 to 15 feet 

 from the ground. These nests were apparently old ones of the White- 

 necked Raven (Corvus cryptoleucus), and used without any repairs 

 being made to them. A nest found on April 25, 1887, contained three 

 young birds, which were taken by him and raised, becoming quite 

 tame; one found on April 28 contained three fresh eggs; another found 

 on May 5 likewise contained three eggs, two with large embryos, the 

 third addled. A fourth and fifth nest, both found on May 14, con- 

 tained each two fresh eggs, possibly a second laying of some of the 

 birds previously despoiled." 



I spent considerable time at these two localities, both in Texas and 

 in Arizona, but failed even to see one of the birds. Three sets of eggs 

 in the Thayer collection and two sets in the author's collection, all 

 from Frank B. Armstrong, were taken near Brownsville, Tex., from 

 nests in Spanish bayonets, or daggers, at heights varying from 10 to 

 14 feet from the ground; this species of yucca seems to furnish the 

 favorite nesting site in that locality. 



Eggs. — Three eggs seems to constitute the usual set for the Aplo- 

 mado falcon, though sets of four seem to be fairly common in Texas. 

 The eggs vary in shape from ovate to nearly oval. The shell is 

 smooth and finely granulated. The ground color is white, creamy 

 white, or pinkish white. This is usually nearly, or quite, covered with 

 small spots or minute dots of "russet", "cinnamon-rufous", or other 



