BIRDS OF PREY 145 
355. PRAIRIE FALCON. — Falco mevicanus. 
Famity: The Falcons, Hawks, Eagles, ete. 
Length: Male 17.00-18.00 ; female 18.50-20.00. 
Adult Male: Upper parts light yellow-brown ; indistinctly barred with 
buffy on the head and neck, and with slate-color on lower back and 
tail; sides of the head with dark patches ; under parts and nuchal 
collar white; belly lightly streaked or spotted with dusky, and 
flanks heavily spotted with same. 
Adult Female: Upper parts same as male, but duller; palest toward 
the tail ; tail tipped with white on the outer edges of the feathers. 
Young: Upper parts grayish brown: under parts grayish butf with 
broad dusky streaks. 
Geographical Distribution: Western United States from the plains to 
the Pacific. 
Breeding Range : Throughout the United States. 
Breeding Season: May. 
Nest: Of sticks, with a lining of grasses ; usually on cliffs, sometimes in 
cavities in trees, always in inaccessible places. 
Eggs: 2to 5; deep cream-buff, covered with fine specks of cinnamon, 
rufous, and light chestnut. Size 2.10 & 1.64. 
ALTHOUGH not a large hawk and apparently built for 
swift flight rather than for strength, the trim Prairie Fal- 
con has the courage of an eagle and does not hesitate to 
attack prey of twice its own weight. Poultry it seizes 
only when other food is scarce, but a good-sized jack- 
rabbit is often a victim, and is carried to the nearest low 
perch to be devoured ; — this by a bird the size of the 
American crow, but with sinews of steel and a heart that 
absolutely knows no fear. With an audacity worthy of 
a better cause it pursues marsh hawks, compelling them 
to relinquish the fish they have caught; and not even 
the bald eagle can strike such terror to a flock of grouse. 
Their eyrie is a crevice or ledge on the perpendicular 
face of a cliff where none but the most daring can 
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