534 THE PIGEON HAWK. 
No. 215. 
s PIGEON HAWK. 
rs O. U. No. 357. Falco columbarius Linn. 
Description.—Old male: Above bluish gray or dark slaty blue; feathers 
with black shafts and pale or rusty edges; general color usually interrupted by 
outcropping white or buffy on nape; tip of wing formed by second primary; first 
shorter than third; first and second sharply notched on the inner web; the second 
and third slightly emarginate on the outer web; inner webs of all quills barred 
or spotted with whitish; outer webs with traces of ashy markings; tail darkening 
posteriorly, white-tipped, and crossed by four narrow, whitish bars, the anterior one 
concealed ; below white or whitish, nearly immaculate on throat, darkening poste- 
riorly to tawny or ochraceous, heavily streaked with dark umber, sometimes 
changing to bars on the flanks; sides of throat and cheeks finely pencilled with 
umber; iris brown; bill and claws blue-black; feet yellow; cere and base of bill 
greenish yellow. This high plumage is quite rare. Adult female and male in 
usual dress; Above dark umber-brown, glaucous or not, the head varied by much 
buffy or rusty edging, with blackish central streaks; wing-spots ochraceous-buff ; 
tail with pattern as before, but blackening toward tip, and with ochraceous-buft 
cross-bars ; below darker buffy all over, or tawny medially as well as posteriorly ; 
streaking of variable intensity. /mmature: Perhaps lighter above, and with 
more ochraceous-buffy edging; otherwise not appreciably, or at least constantly, 
different from adult. Adult male, length: 10.00-11.50 (254-292.1); wing 7.00 
(177.8); tail 4.90 (124.5); bill .g48 (12.2). Adult female, length: 12.00-13.00 
( 304.8-330.2) ; wing 8.50 (215.9); tail 5.40 (137.2); bill .57 (14.5). 
Recognition Marks.—"Little Hawk” size; swift flight; sharp wings; stout 
proportions otherwise; heavily umber-streaked lower parts, tail crossed by four 
whitish bars as compared with F. richardsonti, darker; lighter and more exten- 
sively spotted than /. c. suckleyi. 
Nesting.—Nest: in hollow limbs of trees or in crannies about cliffs. Eggs: 
4 or 5, creamy-white, spotted and blotched with reddish brown or chocolate, or 
else cinnamon-brown sprinkled and dotted with heavier shades of the same color. 
Av. size, 1.62 x 1.22 (41.2 x 30.9). Season: c. May Ist; one brood. 
General Range.—North America at large, south to the West Indies and 
northern South America. Breeds chiefly north of the United States. 
Range in Washington.—Not common resident and migrant east of the 
Cascades; rare or casual on the West-side. 
Authorities.—? “Falco Aisalon,”” Orn, Com., Journ, Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila.. VIL, 
1837. 193. ? Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. XIL., pt. IL, 1860, p. 142 
(possibly F. c. suckleyi). ? Lawrence, Auk, Vol. IX., Jan. 1892, p. 43 (Not cer- 
tainly identified). Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. I., 1892, p. 301. (T). 
C&S. L. D'. Sr. D*. B: E. 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. E. 
