'"leS9o"'] PKOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 535 



chooses a lofty tree for its residence. The youug brood are darker than the parents ; 

 they are commonly hatched about the latter end of July ; it resorts to the plains ana 

 marshes. It is perpetually on the wing, skimming along the surface of the earth, 

 and preys on small birds, plover, and ducks. (Hutchins MSS., Observations on Hud- 

 son Bay, 1872.) 



Falco peregrinus anatum. Peregrine Falcon. Dnck Hawk, or Bullet Hawk. 



Much like tbe goshawk iu movements and distribution; i^robably 

 breeds in the neighborhood of large lakes. Winnipeg : Summer resi- 

 dent; tolerably common (Hine). Portage la Prairie; 1884, rare; saw- 

 two January 1, 1885 (jS'ash). Carberry : Common in the late summer 

 and early fall ; Boggy Creek, near Cote's, October (Thompson). Two 

 Rivers: Bullet Hawk first seen, one, on April 4 (Criddle). Shot one at 

 Cote's Reserve on the Assiniboine, September 22, 1880 ; I first watched 

 it pursue and capture a Prairie Chicken (Macoun). Trout Lake Station 

 and Severn House (Murray). 



On August 11, 1882, about 10 in the morning, we had to drive away 

 two Peregrine Falcons that were raiding iu our poultry yard. In the 

 afternoon they returned, and one of them made a most determined 

 eflort to secure a hen, despite two shots fired at him. However, he es- 

 caped unhurt after the second discharge. He did not stoop from aloft, 

 but skimmed low over the ground in making his attack. 



September 9, 1882. While standing behind the stable to day I 

 heard the turkey give warning, and immediately there was a whizz and 

 a gray streak past me in the air; the poultry screamed and scattered, 

 and I whistled and shouted Justin time to turn the stoop of a Pere- 

 grine. Again and again he dashed down and was with difficulty 

 balked, and only by the time a gun was i)rocured did he finally make 

 off. Two days before I had found a hen with her head bearing three 

 deep gashes, and I doubt not they were received from the claws of one 

 of these marauders, though how many of our poultry they really took I 

 can not say. I never saw any actually taken, and we never knew the 

 exact census of the barnyard, so do not know how many, if any, disap 

 peared. 



On the morning of September 18, I saw a Peregrine sitting on the 

 fence, but he flew before I could get a shot at him and circled away 

 above the barn, increasing his elevation at each gyre until about at the 

 third wheel, when at a height of 200 or 300 feet he suddenly stopped, 

 half closed his wings, and dived headlong into a field half a mile away. 

 His descent was at least as rapid as the fall of a stone would have 

 been, and as he swooped his wings were slightly and slowly expanded 

 and closed again a number of times. What his victim was I neverknew. 



On July 2G, 1884, secured a Peregrine in first plumage. This was 

 shot by Mr. Gordon Wright, near Carberry, and sent to me. He de- 

 scribed it as the " swift gray hawk ; " it was raiding in his poultry yard, 

 when he ran with his gun to the rescue and rapidly fired, but the 

 swiftness of the bandit saved him each time for four shots, and he 



