[ 2.00 ] BIRDSOFOREGON 



THIS GRAY TERROR from the north, the Gyrfalcon, is one of Oregon's 

 rarest birds. It is known from three skins only. The first was taken at 

 Hermiston, Umatilla County, November 17, 1916, and is now in the 

 Jewett collection (Jewett 1919); the second was obtained at Scio, Linn 

 County, in May 192.5 (Prill 192.8); and the third, a female, now in Dr. 

 Prill's collection, was killed in the St. Helens district in 192.7 by a duck 

 hunter. 



There has been much confusion in the classification of these birds. It 

 has been generally assumed that three or four races occurred in North 

 America. These races have been based largely on variations in winter 

 birds with all too few breeding birds available for study. Friedmann has 

 only recently come to the conclusion, after careful study of all available 

 skins, that there is only one Gyrfalcon in North America and this he calls 

 obsoletus. We are following his ideas, but in calling these birds obsoletus 

 the name is not restricted as it is in the 1931 Check-List but applies 

 generally to the birds that breed from Point Barrow across the Arctic 

 wastes to Labrador. 



Prairie Falcon: 



Falco mexicanus Schlegel 



DESCRIPTION.- "Adult male: Under parts and nuchal collar white, sides of head 

 with dark patches; median under parts lightly streaked or spotted, and flanks 

 heavily spotted or blotched with dusky ; upper parts pale clay brown, usually tinged 

 with rusty and indistinctly but broadly barred with pale clay color or dull buffy 

 anteriorly, and with pale bluish gray posteriorly. Adult female: upper parts dull 

 clay brown, feathers edged with rusty brown or dull whitish, paler toward tail; 

 tail tipped with whitish and lighter on outer edges of feathers. Young: upper parts 

 grayish brown, feathers edged with light rusty; under parts buffy with broader 

 dusky streaks; dark flank patch larger and more uniform than in the adult, and 

 axillars unbroken dusky [Plate 32., A]. Ma/e: length 17-18, wing 11.60-11.50, tail 

 6.40-7.50, bill .70-. 75. Female: length 18.50-2.0.00, wing 13.2.5-14.30, tail 8-9, 

 bill .85-. 90." (Bailey) Nest: Built of sticks, usually on a ledge of a high cliff or 

 rim. Eggs: 3 to 5, creamy white, blotched and spotted with reddish brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: From southern British Columbia, southern Alberta, and 

 southeastern Saskatchewan to southern Lower California and southern Mexico. 

 In Oregon: Common permanent resident of eastern Oregon. Straggles occasionally to 

 western Oregon. 



THE PRAIRIE FALCON is the most abundant representative of the larger 

 falcons found in Oregon. Cassin (Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence 1858) first 

 listed it, from Fort Dalles, and Suckley (1860) found it not rare at the 

 same point. Bendire (1877) found it common in the Harney Valley, and 

 Mearns (1879) reported it from Fort Klamath. There is no bird whose 

 power of flight commands more admiration than that of this falcon, the 

 aerial abilities of which enable it to overtake such speed artists as the 



