GREAT-FOOTED HAWK. 15 



"In comparing the eggs of the American and the European 

 Peregrine Falcons, Dr. Brewer observes: 'It [the American] 

 closely resembles a variety of the eggs of the European species, 

 but seems to present differences sufficiently well marked to be 

 regarded as specific. . . . The ground-colors of both American and 

 European are a reddish-yellow ; and both are thickly covered with 

 fine dottings of chocolate and ferruginous brown, diffused over the 

 whole egg in nearly equal degree, and to such an extent as nearly 

 to conceal the ground. The length of the American egg is slightly 

 less ; but it is of equal or greater capacity, and varies in its mark- 

 ings from all the European specimens that I have ever met with. 

 These variations, though readily traceable by the eye, are not so 

 easily described. The shades of coloring in both are closely alike : 

 the variation consists more in the distribution of these markings. In 

 the European specimens, the fine markings of chocolate are distri- 

 buted with nearly exact uniformity. In the American, the secondary 

 colorings are now more thickly and now more thinly diffused, here 

 leaving the ground-color nearly unchanged ; there becoming con- 

 fluent, and blending into waving lines, blotches, and bold dashes. 

 The egg, in consequence, presents a more varied appearance. These 

 markings are also in greater proportion around the larger end of the 

 egg, and the blotches are of a deeper shade ; so there is a variation 

 in the shading between the smaller and larger extremities not no- 

 ticeable in any European egg that I have met with.' 



" The amount of variation presented by the eggs of the Duck 

 Hawk, described above, shows that but little dependence can be 

 placed on the eggs in deciding specific differences. The eggs men- 

 tioned by Dr. Brewer are not much different from those of the 

 .true European Peregrine. One or two of the specimens before 

 me considerably resemble Dr. Brewer's, and likewise eggs of the 

 European species, as figured and described by authors, while 

 the others are very different, one being remarkably so. 



" The eggs of the different species of this group of Falcons 

 seem to resemble each other greatly, and to be subject to consider- 

 able variation in the same species. In the manner of laying the 

 eggs, there is also a similarity, as might be expected among closely 

 allied species ; the same species sometimes laying them on the bare 

 rocks, and again in a bulky nest of sticks and other coarse materi- 

 als. The nest of this species visited on Talcott Mountain, Conn., 



