388 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



by Benson near Aguadulce. Hellmayr and Conover (Cat. Birds 

 Amer. pt, 1, no. 4, 1949, p. 316) in a table of measurements list a 

 male and a female from Veraguas, without indication of specific 

 locality. (Their statement in the range should read western, instead of 

 eastern, Panama.) In Herrera on March 2, 1948, I saw three in an 

 open pasture near Potuga, two of them in mating play. One stooped 

 gracefully at a plumbeous kite. Two days later I recorded another 

 near Paris. On March 10, 1957, 1 saw a falcon along the beach dunes 

 near Pedasi, Los Santos, that I believed to be this species, but I was 

 not wholly certain of the identification. On February 19, 1954, I 

 watched one that circled over the shore of Barro Colorado Island, at 

 Salud Point. 



The typical form of this species is found in open savanna or semi- 

 arid plains regions from Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and Trinidad 

 south through eastern South America to Tierra del Fuego. A 

 northern form Falco femoralis septentrionalis, distinguished by 

 lighter-gray upper surface, with the breast solid black, and some- 

 what larger size, breeds from southern Arizona, southwestern New 

 Mexico, and southern Texas south through Mexico and ranges 

 casually to Guatemala. While there is little definite information on 

 the nesting of the bird of Panama, that of the northern subspecies 

 just mentioned is known. According to Bent (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 

 170, 1938, pp. 96-97) the nest is a platform of twigs lined with grass, 

 placed in a low tree. Some pairs in southern Arizona are said to 

 have used old nests of the white-necked raven, which are of similar 

 form to those made by the falcons. The eggs, usually 3, are oval, 

 "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 bright browns." Some are less heavily marked, so 

 that they show the ground color. The average is 44.5 X 34.5 mm. 



Aplomado falcons are bird hunters, doves and quail being common 

 food. They also take lizards and mice. 



FALCO COLUMBARIUS Linnaeus: Pigeon Hawk; Halcon de Paso 



Size that of the bat falcon ; streaked underneath and on head ; 

 upper surface gray in adult, brownish gray to sooty gray in imma- 

 ture. 



Description. — Length, 275 in male, to 340 mm. in female. Male, 

 gray above, streaked with dull black on crown and hindneck, with 

 heavy shaft streaks of black on wing coverts, back, and upper tail 

 coverts ; wings black, with secondaries and inner primaries tipped 

 lightly with white ; tail black, barred widely with light gray, and tipped 



