34 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



any small bird which might be concealed therein. After satisfying itself that no 

 prey was to be found, other straw heaps, in turn, were visited. Fully half an 

 acre of ground was covered, but the falcon was not seen to capture anything. 

 * * * As I left the field, * * * it sprang into the air and beat away 

 on strong wings. As the falcon began to gain speed a jack rabbit sprang from its 

 place of concealment, whereupon the falcon made a very swift and graceful swoop 

 toward the rabbit but did not appear to endeavor to strike it. 



Giving due consideration to all the cross currents noted in the lives 

 of various prairie falcons, we begin to wonder just what their economic 

 value to man may be. The most serious complaint against them is 

 not that they kill chickens, but that they destroy tame pigeons. Often 

 a single falcon will hang around a grain elevator to catch the tame 

 pigeons coming there for waste grain. At times, a falcon will locate 

 a pigeon cote and visit it more or less regularly until it has taken 

 every bird. But, even this pigeon hunting seems to be more or less 

 individual, and is not at all a general habit. 



Probably the destruction of poultry, pigeons, and wild birds by 

 prairie falcons is pretty well balanced by the good the falcons do in 

 destroying so many noxious rodents. Dr. A. K. Fisher (1893b) 

 writes: "At present the data we have on the food of this Hawk is not 

 enough to decide whether the species should be protected or perse- 

 cuted." Later, although still undecided, Dr. Fisher (1907) sums up 

 the evidence well, saying: 



Throughout a large portion of the country inhabited by this species, poultry is 

 scarce, as most ranchers do not yet attempt to raise it. Although this falcon feeds 

 extensively upon waterfowl, quail, prairie chickens, and other game, it attacks 

 also various kinds of injurious mammals, notably the smaller ground squirrels, 

 such as the striped, Franklin, Richardson, Harris, and the allied species, which 

 abound in many sections of its range. In this respect it is of considerable service 

 to the agriculturist, and probably offsets the injury done by destroying game; but, 

 unfortunately, the data at hand are insufficient to show just how extensively it 

 preys on these animals; hence the benefit done cannot be correctly estimated. 



Eichard M. Bond (1936b) says: "At an eyrie in southwestern San 

 Luis Obispo County was found a fresh half-eaten wild cat {Lynx rvfus 

 californicus) kitten, the estimated live weight of which was slightly 

 over 2 pounds, or about the load limit of a female Prairie Falcon. 

 There is no proof that the kitten was killed by a falcon (it was on a 

 ledge about 30 feet from the nest), but a rather extensive exploration of 

 the cliff disclosed no signs of other large birds of prey." 



Behavior. — To use the wording of the hawking brotherhood, this is 

 a noble bird, met with far out over the wild, lonely foothills, over the 

 unsettled plains and prairies, and even over the deserts of the South- 

 west. It is strong, bold, and a fearless fighter, but wary, shy, and 

 secretive where it has been subjected to molestation. Like most other 

 hawks it likes to sit on dead trees and other conspicuous perches that 

 will give it a wide outlook over the domain that it considers its own. 

 Although it is normally a resident of the Sonoran Life Zone, some indi- 



