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252 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
355. Prairie Falcon. 
Falco mexica.us, SCHLEG. 1841. 
The first time the writer observed this species was in Septem- 
ber, 1885, at Rush Lake, Assa., on the line of the C.P.Ry. The e 
were a number of them and they seemed tobe quite tame. Each 
telegraph pole was occupied, and as the bird was new to me I 
shot one. For years after this I saw no more, but in the spring 
of 1892 Mr.Spreadborough shot one at Indian Head, Assa. Inthe 
summer of 1895 none was seen on a traverse of 600 miles or 
until we reached the West Butte. At the police station named 
Pend d’Orielle, on the Milk River, they were numerous and doubt- 
less they bred there. 
One specimen was taken at Deer Park, Columbia River, B.C., 
June 9, 1890. (Spreadborough.) Formerly a regular fall and 
winter visitor and may breed in the mountains in the lower Fraser 
Valley, B.C. (Bvrooks.) Taken at Comox, Vancouver Island, 
December, 1894, by Mr. W. Harvey. (/annin.) 
BREEDING Nores.—At one of our astronomical stations, on the 
west branch of the ‘ Two Forks” of Milk River no less than four 
species of large hawks had their nests within sight of each other, 
and only a few hundred yards apart. These were Swainson’s and 
the Ferruginous buzzards, the common falcon and the present 
species. * i The nest to which I now refer was 
discovered 18th July, 1874, on the perpendicular face of the “ cut 
bank” of the stream. It contained three young scarcely able to 
fly. Two of these were shot on the wing close to the nest, and the 
third was brought to me alive by a soldier. This nest was built 
behind an upright column of earth, partly washed away from the 
main embankment, in such a position that no full view of it could 
be obtained from any accessible standpoint. But it was certainly 
placed directly on the ground, in a little water-worn hollow of the 
bank, behind the projecting mound, so that it was almost like a 
burrow. (Cowes on Birds of Dakotah and Montana.) 
I have a set of four eggs taken in southern Alberta, May 17th, 
1897. The nest is merely eggs simply laid on the gravel ina 
hollow on the high bank of a river. (W. Razne.) 
MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 
Two; one taken at Rush Lake, Assa., by the writer, Septem- 
ber 16th, 1885. The other taken at Indian Head, Assa., in Sep- 
tember, 1891, by W. Spreadborough. 
