The Oologists' Record, March i, 1922. 



A NEST OF THE AMERICAN PEREGRINE FALCON. 



By H. Arden Edwards, C.O.C. M.C.O. 



As an introduction I wish to say that while the Duck Hawk, 

 Falco peregrinus anaUim, as it is commonly called throughout the 

 United States, is nowhere common, it is even less so in Southern 

 California, so that collecting the eggs of this species is of sufficient 

 rarity to thrill even the most blase ef oologists. 



Of the two sets of this noble species collected by me this past 

 season, the second was of unusual interest, both having regard 

 to the late nesting date, 23rd April, and to the site chosen for the 

 nest, which was among the wild semi-desert country of the San 

 Antonio Mountains, some 120 miles from the coast where, in Southern 

 California, these birds are usually found. Not always do they 

 nest upon the sea cliffs proper, except upon the coastal islands of 

 California and Mexico, but are quite frequently found to have made 

 their ej^rie in some wild caiion contiguous to the ocean. 



The few sets taken are usually in one of the above-mentioned 

 localities, so it was with considerable surprise that I perused a 

 hastily written note from my friend and fellow-collector, Mr. 

 Pierce, informing me that a friend and he had seen one of these 

 birds in a lonely canon on the desert slope of the Coast Range. This 

 was just at dusk, and darkness prevented an extended search for 

 the nesting site, but as the bird was later joined by its mate 

 and both flew up and down the caiion screaming vociferously, it 

 seemed a certainty that they were nesting or about to nest there. 



In company with my friend I had worked over this very wild 

 and extremely rugged section for a number of years, and had 

 found the Prairie Falcon, Falco mexicanus, nesting among the 

 rocky limestone cliffs in company with the American Raven, 

 but never once had we seen so much as a glimpse of a Duck Hawk. 

 Trusting fully in my friend's information, however, the following- 

 week-end I packed my kit and joined him at his home, where we 

 loaded his car and were soon started on our way. 



If space permitted I should like to describe this beautiful Land 

 of the Golden West, as it unrolled itself before us that memorable 

 day. The purple ranges of the Sierra Madres Mountains, with 

 snow-capped Mt. San Antonio rearing its lofty head far above the 

 lesser peaks, formed a barrier between the fertile vallej's of the 

 coast and the desert wastes of the Moiave Desert, and it was th( 



