254 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OP' SCIENCES. 



the republic." The Bald Eagle was formerly common in Iowa 

 and frequently nested in favorable localities. At the present time 

 it can only be considered as tolerably common along the larger 

 water-courses during migrations, and occasionally during the 

 winter. A nesting pair is of very exceptional occurrence in the 

 .state. 



Prince Maximilian (Rei.se, i, 282) states (April 25, 1833): "Der 

 Canal zwischen der genannten Insel and dem Festland wird Nad- 

 away-Slew genannt. . . . Der weisskopfige Adler (Bald Eagle) 

 nestete haufig auf hohen Baumen am Ufer." He also noted a 

 nest above the mouth of Wolf River and observed the birds above 

 the Nishnabotna River. The.se notes were made along the Mis- 

 souri a short distance below the southwestern corner of Iowa. 



In his "Life Histories of North American Birds" (Plate ix, fig. 

 7), Major Bendire figures an egg of the Bald Eagle, from a set of 

 two obtained at Alden, Iowa, April 18, 1873, and which was 

 slightly incubated when found. Chas. R. Keyes writes: "The 

 birds occasionally shot are, as a rule, young. Bred along the 

 Cedar River near Mt. Vernon twenty-five years ago. No recent 

 records of breeding here" (Linn). M. E. Peck states that it bred 

 sparingly in Blackhawk county thirty-five years ago. The onl)^ 

 report of nesting within recent years comes from J. L. Sloanaker 

 of Newton (Jasper county), who writes: "I know where a Bald 

 Eagle recently nested near Kellogg. Eagles have been taken 

 here every summer past for several years. One firm here had a 

 large cage with three young in it last summer (1905), two of them 

 captured near Kellogg. . . . Moreover, old Eagles have been seen 

 at Kellogg in June and Jul}-. They used to nest there several 

 years ago. Carl Kelsey's old chum collector said that the}' had 

 taken eggs at Kellogg at a certain bluff near town." 



Subfamily FALCONING. 



Genus Falco Linnseus. 

 Subgenus Hierofalco Cuvier. 



154. (355). falco inexicanus Schleg. Prairie Falcon. 



The Prairie Falcon is an inhabitant of the Western Plains and 

 is only an occasional visitant in Iowa. VV. W. Cooke (Bird Migr. 

 in Mi.ss. Val., 1884-85, 118) states: "It has been found in central 

 Iowa and as far east as Illinois." 



