8 NOKTII AMEllICAN OOLOGY. PAKT I. 



Family FALCONIDtE. 



falco anatum. 



Falco peregrinus, Wils. Am. Orn. IX, 1814, 120, pi. Ixxvi. 



" " BoNAP. Syn. 1828, p. 27. 



» " Rich. 6c Sv.'ain. F. B. A. II, 1831, 23. 



" " NuTT. Man. I, 1832, 53. 



" AuD. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 85 ; V, 365, pi. xvi. 



» " " Syn. 1889, p. 16. 



" " " Birds of Am. I, 1840, 84, pi. x.x. 



« " De Kay, Nat. Hist. New York, I, 1844, 13, pi. iii, fig. 8, 



" " Lembeye, Birds of Cuba, 1850, pi. i, fig. 2. 



Falco anatum, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 4. 



Cassin, Syn. N. A. Birds (Illust. Birds of Cal.), 1854, p. 86. 



VuLG. — Great-footed Hawk. American Peregrine Falcon. Blue-backed Falcon. Spotted 

 Falcon. Haggard Falcon. Duck Hawk. 



The amount of exact iiifonnatioii in our possession in regard to the distribution 

 of tliis species during the breeding season, its geographical range generally, its man- 

 ner of breeding, or the extent of the variations to which its eggs may be subject, is 

 much more limited than could be wished. To some extent this is owing to this 

 species ha^dng been so long confounded with the Western Peregruie {Falco nigriceps, 

 Cassm) of California, but yet more so to its restriction, during the breedmg season, 

 to less frequented and high northern latitudes, where it has been rarely met with 

 by naturaUsts. But one well-authenticated mstance has come to my knowledge 

 of its having been met with, during the breeding season, south of Newfoundland. 

 At other seasons it has been foimd throughout the enth'e American continent, 

 unless we are to suppose that its near relatives, the two Californian species, may 

 have been mistaken for this bird in the instances referred to. It preys chiefly 

 upon sea-ducks, and therefore is, for the most part, met with on the coast, is rarely 

 found inland, and its migrations and wanderings are mfluenced by the flights of its 

 favorite game. It has been found, at "\arious seasons, throughout the entire eastern 

 coast of North America, and possibly belongs to the western also ; but this remains 

 to be ascertained. Mr. Gosse obtauied it in Jamaica, and Lembeye and Dr. Gimd- 

 lach in Cuba. Sir WUliam Jardine assigns it to Bermuda, and a species supposed, 

 though perhaps erroneously, to be the same, has been observed in the Straits of 

 Magellan. The last, however, may have been either the Californian, the Austrahan,^ 

 or an undescribed species. 



^ The Australian species, once confounded with the Peregrine Falcon of Europe, is now recognized 

 as distinct. It is the Falco melanogenys of Gould's Birds of Australia. This bird, like all of its kindred 



