S2 TriE W'lLSox lU'LLF.Tix — Xo. 67. 



Peak's Falcon: Male, wing 33.89, tail 17.15, culmen 2.13, 

 tarsus 4.92, middle toe -l.So. 



Female, wing- 37.23, tail 19.91, culmen 2.41, tarsus 5.48, 

 middle toe 5.41. 



Diagnostic INIarks. 



Black moustache, bluish-gray back, long pointed wings, 

 swift flight. 



Color Pattern. 



Adult : top of head deep black, darker than the back, which 

 is bluish ash, underparts cream color forward, buffy back- 

 ward ; spotted with tear shaped or cre.scentic black or dark 

 marks forward running into bars backward. 



Young: ground color of lower parts ochreous with sooty 

 brown stripes where the adults have crescentic marks and 

 bars ; upper parts sooty brown. 



Peregrine Falcon is more marked below, Duck Hawk less 

 so or immaculate, while Peale's Falcon has the color of the 

 top of the head the same as the back, and usually more heav- 

 ily m.arked below. 



Flight and Habits. 



These are bold birds, seeming to have little fear of man, 

 indeed daring to dart in and snatch the bird just killed almost 

 from beneath the hunter's hand. The flight is almost incred- 

 ibly swift when prey is being pursued. At times soaring and 

 rising to great heights is practiced. At the nest these birds 

 are noisy and shy, at other times usually c[uiet. They be- 

 come attached to certain localities. 



Food. 



Almost any birds up to the size of ducks and grouse, hares, 

 poultry, dragon-flies. 



\^oice. 

 Ka yak, ka yak — kea kea. Often a cackling noise. 



Xest. 

 On cliffs or in the hollow limbs of very tall trees. Nest 



