70 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



eyries at the north-west corner of the main island and on the rocky shores of 

 Langara Island, just across Parry Passage — were living entirely upon the Ancient 

 Murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus), which were breeding there in thousands. 



Nothing was found at any of the eyries but remains of Ancient Murrelets, very 

 rarely anything but the heads, very neatly cut off and always fresh; all other 

 remains were cleared away carefully. 



Langara Island is about twenty miles in circumference, and has a pair of 

 Falcons at a distance of every two miles apart; the whole island is a warren of 

 Ancient Murrelets, and there are colonies of other sea-fowl at particular points 

 and on adjacent islets, but the Ancient Murrelets predominate, and are killed by 

 hundreds by the Falcons and by thousands by Indians, who visit the island from 

 May to August and destroy the birds and eggs simply for food. Something in 

 the flavour evidently pleases both the Falcons and the Indians, for neither of 

 them seems to make war on the other fowl. 



Behavior. — Mr. Turner (1886) writes: 



At Attu Island I frequently saw one of these birds join the Ravens when the 

 latter were performing their aerial gymnastics on the approach of a gale. 



The Hawk endeavored to imitate the Ravens, which paid but little attention 

 to the antics of the intruder. 



At Attu this Hawk is not common, though the natives assert that it is common 

 enough at Agattu and the Semichi Islands. The natives told me that where this 

 Hawk breeds there will also be found the nests of the Eiders. I could not believe 

 this until a short stay at Amichitka Island forced me to recognize it as a fact, 

 for, in each instance, the nests of Eiders were very abundant in each of the lo- 

 calities where the nest of this hawk was known to be. It is quite probable that 

 the hawk selects the place with special reference to prospective young Eiders. 



Winter. — Peale's falcon apparently wanders south occasionally in 

 fall or winter. Harry S. Swarth (1933) records a specimen of this 

 race taken at San Diego Bay on March 31, 1908. I have a bird in 

 my collection taken 2 miles south of Colorado Landing, Lower Cali- 

 fornia, on December 30, 1924, which I regard as nearly typical of 

 pealei. 



FALCO COLUMBARIUS COLUMBARIUS Linnaeus 



eastern pigeon hawk 

 Plates 16, 17 



HABITS 



Oar American merlins, or pigeon hawks, have been subdivided by 

 the latest authorities into four races. There are three quite distinct 

 forms, but one of these, suckleyi, may be only a color phase, as it seems 

 to have no distinct range in which it alone is found; and the fourth, 

 bendirei, is to my mind only an intermediate between the darker and 

 the lighter races, and is too near the eastern race to warrant recogni- 

 tion. This matter is discussed further under these two forms. The 

 range of the eastern form extends roughly north to the limit of trees 

 and west to the eastern edge of the prairie regions and to Alaska. 

 Some form of the pigeon hawk is to be found at some season of the 



