The Distribution of Falco peregriiius pealei. 473 



XXI. — N^ote on the Distribution and Nesting-habits of 



Falco peregriuus pealei Ridgway. By C. de B. Green, 



Pentietou, British Columbia. 

 Where do the ranges of Falco peregrinus anatum and F. ;:>. 

 pealei overlap ? The latitude has not been decided yet. 

 It is no doubt somewhere on the coast oi Vancouver Island, 

 possibly even south of lat. 49°, though probably north of 

 lat. 50°. 



In 1912 a young bird of F. p. anatum was secured iu 

 lat. 53°, but further search seems to prove that it was a 

 wanderer. 



Queen Charlotte Islands lie north of Vancouver Island, 

 separated by Queen Charlotte Sound, sixty miles wide. The 

 southerly island of Queen Charlotte group has not been 

 examined, but birds shot at the north end of that island 

 were undoubted F. p. pealei. Graham Island, which is 

 separated by a channel only a mile wide from Moresby, has 

 been carefully searched since 1910, and all birds breeding 

 there are F. p. pealei. Two eyries at the south end belonged 

 to birds of this race, and the north coast held fifteen eyries 

 of F. p. pealei when examined in 1915. 



The isolated Falcons at lonely points on the coast were 

 living chiefly upon duck, chickens, and sandj)ipers, but 

 the congregation of F. p. pealei — thirteen eyries at the 

 north-west corner of the main island and on the rocky 

 shores of Langara Island, just across Parry Passage — were 

 living entirely upon the Ancient Murrelets {Synthliboramphus 

 antiquus), which were breeding there in thousands. 



The birds were fat and inactive while incubating, both 

 birds staying at the eyrie during both laying and incubating. 

 In only one case out of thirteen did the male fail to show up 

 at the first sound of the gun, and in that case it seems 

 possible that he had been commandeered at an eyrie a couple 

 of miles away, where, three days before, I bad shot the 

 male, leaving the female in good condition to lay again, her 

 set having just been completed ; within forty hours she 

 could be seen at the same eyrie with a fresh mate. In only 



