44 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



north of Clovis. January i, 1905, another was seen two miles south of Clovis, 

 flying from the west, and having- come, no doubt, from the Sierras. November 

 28, 1906, another eagle was observed circling over the fields three miles south- 

 east of Clovis, and I was told of one having been shot on the west side plains 

 several years ago. 



Specimens are occasionally brought into a local taxidermist's shop, but most 

 of these probably come from the mountains. 



Bald Eagle. Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus (Linnaeus). 



Only once has the author ever observed the Bald Eagle in Fresno County. 

 On the afternoon of February 16, 1906, a splendid example flew over an orchard 

 where I was working near Clovis. Flying at no great height he was plainly 

 seen, but just after passing over he made a broad circle as if to allow me a bet- 

 ter opportunity to adm.ire his snowy head and tail, glistening like silver in the 

 tunlight. He then swept on eastward toward the mountains. 



No doubt this eagle had been following up the San Joaquin River, which 

 was about ten miles away. 



PRATRfF, Falcon. Falco mexicanus Schlegel. 



So far as the author can learn the favorite hunting ground of the Prairie 

 Falcon is rough, foothill country ; and as such conditions are not foun 1 in the 

 immediate vicinity of Fresno T attribute the apparent scarcity of the bird to a 

 lack of suitable environment. 1 have observed a very few of these sv/ift-winged 

 falcons during the past ten years, nearly always in the fall and during dust and 

 wind storms. 



A farmer living near New Hope once told me of a long-winged "bullet- 

 hawk" that made regular visits to his place in c|uest of young chickens, which it 

 seized and bore away so rapidly that he could never prevent the loss. Finally he 

 resolved to wait for the robber, as it always appeared about the same time each 

 day, coming from the foothills of the Coast Range mountains, fully twenty-five 

 miles away, and returning tov/ard the same place. Standing in the shelter of a 

 shed one day, shotgun in hand, this man observed the falcon approaching, and 

 fired just as it had started away with a squawking young fowl. At the shot the 

 bird dropped its victim but continued its flight, although apparently much weak- 

 ened. It was never seen again. 



Up in a canyon above Cantua Creek there is a series of caves or potholes on 

 a steep clifT, where some large bird formerly nested, as evidenced by the streaks 

 of white excrement that marked the face of the ledge below one of the holes. I 

 have no doubt that this was the home of the pair of Prairie Falcons, one of which 

 had discovered such a rich hunting ground twenty-five miles away. 



I have been told that a pair of these falcons have nested for years on the al- 

 most inaccessible clifif above Tollhouse, in the Sierra foothills on the opposite 

 side of the valley. Both of these stations are well outside the bounds of the re- 

 gion treated in this work, but on account of the rarity of the birds in Fresno 

 County it seemed not out of place to mention these two instances of their prob- 

 able occurrence. 



Duck Hawk. Falco peregrinus anatum Bonaparte. 



What the Sharp-shinned Hawk is to small birds, this falcon is to ducks and 



