84 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Columbia and to wander only rarely as far south as northern Cali- 

 fornia. Major Bendire (1892) writes: 



I am quite positive, however, that an occasional pair breeds in the vicinity of 

 Fort Klamath. On May 9, 1883, while en route from this post to Linkville, 

 Oregon, I observed a pair of these birds in the large open pine forest about midway 

 between the two points. I had halted my party to let the horses graze, and, 

 while resting, my attention was attracted to the male, by its incessant screaming 

 in the trees overhead; this also brought the female around, and she was equally 

 as noisy. It was clear that they had a nest in the vicinity, either in the tall 

 pines or in a cliff about 400 yards distant, but a careful search instituted by the 

 members of my party and myself failed to reveal it. Both birds were rather shy, 

 but I finally succeeded in killing the male, a very handsome adult specimen. 



J. H. Bowles (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) says: "Black Merlins 

 are fairly common thruout the country lying between the Cascade 

 Range and the Pacific Ocean [in Washington]. They are most 

 numerous during migrations, but a few pairs remain with us during 

 the summer for the sake of raising a family. 



"During the fall and early spring they are most often to be met with 

 in the open prairie country, and on the extensive tide flats that are 

 to be found along Puget Sound. In such localities there is always 

 an abundance of the smaller migratory birds, which seem to make 

 up almost the entire sum and substance of their food supply." 



S. F. Rathbun has very kindly looked over for me the pigeon hawks 

 in local collections and reports that all the specimens of suckleyi, taken 

 in the vicinity of Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., were migrant or winter 

 birds, September to March. From this he infers that "quite likely, in 

 this locality, the bird is much more of a transient than a resident, 

 although our notes, some thirty years ago, show that for several seasons 

 we saw the species at times about the city in the summer months." 



Dr. George M. Sutton writes to me that he shot an exceedingly 

 handsome, richly colored male of this race, on June 10, 1934, about 

 three miles north of Blue River, British Columbia. The stomach 

 contained "only the remains of a Vaux's swift." The gonads were 

 considerably enlarged. He says: "Judging from this record, and 

 from a similar one made by Taverner in an earlier year, I am inclined 

 to think this bird may nest Jar in the interior, as well as, or perhaps 

 instead of, along the coast, as has been supposed." 



Nesting. — Mr. Bowles (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) writes: 



So far as known no positively identified eggs of the Black Merlin have ever 

 been taken, and only two nests have been reported to me, both of which were 

 in inaccessible cavities high up in decayed trees. One of these that I personally 

 visited in June was placed in a lone cottonwood tree in the valley of the Puyallup 

 River, and contained young that were learning to fly. The young paid no atten- 

 tion whatever to me, but the parents sat overhead looking down at me and utter- 

 ing plaintive whimperings, altho seemingly pretty well assured that I could not 

 reach them. The note sounded not unlike the kik-kik-kik call of the Flicker, 

 only very much more subdued, and is the only sound I have ever known this 

 bird to make at any time. 



