THE PEALE FALCON. 531 



For a nesting site this Falcon chooses a commanding cliff, and preferably 

 one which lays a considerable territory of water under tribute. A pair which 

 has taken up its abode u])on the picturesque bastions of W'aklron Head appears 

 to lack nothing. The hill itself boasts Gulls, Aleadowlarks, and Mountain 

 Quail : while the neighboring colonies on Flattop and Gull Island offer quite a 

 range of delicacies. Once, when we happened to be on Flattop, the morning 

 marketing of the Waldron Peregrine stirred up quite a commotion among the 

 sea fowl. A constant outcry attended his movements, and the Gulls pursued 

 him valianth'. Amusing to relate, a pair of Fish Crows, eager, no doubt, to 

 olitain a pretext for distracting attention from their own odious persons, were 

 leading in the chase, crying, "Stop thief!" in a most virtuous key. Faugh! 

 Their own gullets were crammeil with CornK.irant eggs at the ver\- nicmient 



No. 214. 



PEALE'S FALCON. 



A. O. U. Xo. 35'ia. Faico peregriniis pealei Ridgway. 



Description. — .Idiilts: Similar to /•*. p. aiiatiini. but darker; above slaty 

 black; no contrast l)et\\een ])ileuni and back; anteriorly the feathers are lightly 

 tipped with ochraceous, posteriorlv with lighter ocliraceous or gray ; iindcrparts 

 very- heavily marked with sooty black (or black with a tinge of red and a sub- 

 dued glaucous bloom ) on ochraceous ground, — the marking is chiefly longitudinal 

 and becomes barring only on crissum and under tail-coverts. Yoiing birds lack 

 the rusty feather-tips of adult and are often so dark below as more properly to 

 be defined as sooty black, streaked with ])alc ochraceous. Length as in preceding 

 form. 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size ; dark coloration ; no contrast in shade 

 between pileum and back. 



Nesting. — Much as in preceding; chiefly confined to sea-clift's. 



General Range. — Pacific Coast region from (Jregon to the .\leutian and 

 Commander IslamL, breeding thruout its range. 



Range in Washington. — Imperfectly defined as regarding preceding form — 

 at least western coast and probablv northern coast of Olympic peninsula. 



Authorities. — FaIco iiic/iicrps. Cassin, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX.. 1858. p. 8 

 (part). C&S. Rh. 



Specimens. — Prov. 



IT would lie imp(^ssible to adjudicate the l)Oundaries between F. f>. aiiatiiiii 

 and F. p pcalci without killing every falcon in western Washington; and this, 

 however much yve should earn the gratitude of the water foyvl. yye do not feel 

 prepared to do. Suffice it to say, that pcalci is, on theory, a saturated form. 



