FALCONID^ — THE FALCONS. 151 



Dr. Heerinann once found one of these birds just preparing to feed on a 

 large and plump California Partridge. 



In Tanianlipas, Mexico, where Lieutenant Couch found it qnite common, 

 he speaks of it as being very quiet, living bnt little, and generally watching 

 for its quarry from the limb of a dry tree. Mr. Audubon makes no mention 

 of any peculiarities of habits. Mr. Nuttall was evidently unfamiliar with 

 it, stating it to be unknown in New Entiiand, and a resident of the Southern 

 States only. 



In Nova Scotia, Mr. Downes speaks of it as common, breeding in all the 

 wooded parts of the country. It is said to be not troublesome to the farmer, 

 but to feed upon the smaller birds. He mentions that once, on his voyage 

 to Boston, one of these birds flew aboard and allowed itself to be captured, 

 and was kept alive and fed readily, but soon after escaped. 



]Mr. B. R. Itoss, in his notes on the birds and nests obtained by him in the 

 country about Fort Resolution, Lapierre House, and Good Hope, mentions 

 this bird as the most common of the true Falcons in that district, where it 

 ranges to the Arctic coast. Its nest is said to be composed of sticks, grass, 

 and moss, and to be built generally in a thick tree, at no great elevation. 

 Tlie eggs, he adds, are from five to seven in number, 1.60 inches in length 

 by 1:20 in breadtli. Their ground-color he describes as a light reddish-buff, 

 clouded with deep cliocolate and reddish-brown blotches, more thickly 

 sj)read at tlie larger end of the egg, where tlie under tint is almost entirely 

 concealed by them. This description is given from three eggs procured with 

 their parent at Fort Resolution. 



From Mr. MacFarlane's notes, made from his observations in the Anderson 

 River countrv, we gatlier that one nest was found on the ledne of a cliff of 

 shaly mud on the banks of the Anderson River ; another nest was on a pine- 

 tree, eight or nine feet from the ground, and composed of a few dry willow- 

 twigs and some half-decayed hay, etc. It was within two hundred yards of 

 the river-bank. A third nest was in the midst of a small bushy branch of a 

 pine-tree, and was ten feet from the ground. It \\'as composed of coarse 

 hay, lined witli some of a finer quality, but was far from being well arranged. 

 Mr. MacFarlane was confident that it had never been used before by a Crow 

 or Itv anv other bird. The oviduct of the female contained an eiig ready to 

 be laid. It was colored like the otliers, but the shell was still soft, and ad- 

 hered to tlie fingers on beinu; touched. In another instance the efros were 

 found on a ledge of shale in a cliff on the bank, without anything under 

 tliem in the way of lining. He adds that they are even more abundant 

 along tlie banks of the ]McKenzie than on the Anderson River. 



Mr, MacFarlane narrates that on the 25th of May an Indian in his em- 

 ploy found a nest placed in the midst of a pine branch, six feet from the 

 ground, loosely made of a few dry sticks and a small quantity of coarse hay. 

 It then contained two eggs. Both parents were seen, but when fired at were 

 missed. On the 31st lie revisited the nest, which still contained only two 



