FALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. 



271 



grass near by, and screeching loudly as if something was greatly the matter ; 

 you approach him, and with much seeming difficulty it make out to move off 

 a little iarther, still screeching louder than before, and this piece of deception 

 it will repeat time after time, improving a little in its powers of locomotion 

 as it gets you farther from the nest, until it judges it is far enough, — 

 that you have lost the place in the unmarked sea of grass, — when it seems 

 to fly as well as ever ; it circles round once or twice, going still farther off, 

 and settles silently down in the deep grass. This last performance is to 

 induce the belief that it has returned to the nest. But if you refuse to be 

 led astray by these manoeuvres, and remain about its nest, it Avill make a 

 good fight. One came very near knocking off my hat one day when I did 

 not know I was intruding on its premises." 



The Biiteo hairdi of Hoy is now ascertained to be only an immature form. 

 It was first met with in Wisconsin, and since then has been taken in vari- 

 ous western localities. 



A pair of these birds was found by Mr. Pdcksecker, breeding in this plu- 

 mage, in Utah. The nest was built in a young aspen-tree. Tlie egg is 

 marked with larger and more deeply marked blotches than usual, and is 

 nearly of an exact oval shape, measuring 2.30 inches in length by 1.75 in 

 breadth. The ground-color is white, with a slight tinge of rufous, over 

 which are diffused, over the whole surface, fine markings of a reddish, rust- 

 tinged brown. Besides these the larger end, and some other portions of the 

 surface, are boldly dashed witli large blotches of the same color, but of a 

 deeper shade. 



A black Buzzard, originally described as Bidco insignatus, is now known 

 to be only an individual melanistic 

 condition of the species. It was 

 first met with in the vicinity of 

 Montreal, and the specimen belong- 

 ing to the Natural History Society 

 of that city was described as new 

 by Mr. John Cassin. A similar 

 s})ecimen was taken by Mr. Macfar- 

 lane at Fort Anderson, where it was 

 breeding. It was met with rather 

 abundantly by Dr. Heermann on the 

 San Joaquin liiver, in California, 

 and seen along his route for a con- 

 siderable distance. He described it 

 as sluggish in its habits, perching for 

 hours in a quiescent state on some 

 tall tree, and permitting the hunter 

 to approach without showing any 

 signs of fear. 



Buteo swainsoni, rar. oxypterus (young). 



