FALCONS : Family Falconidae [ 2.05 ] 



We have noted this hawk also in Portland, where, for several winters, 

 one harassed the pigeons and English Sparrows about the Post Office 

 Building at Broadway and Glisan Streets, and we have seen it in Coos, 

 Tillamook, and Lincoln Counties under exceptionally favorable oppor- 

 tunities for observation. 



Western Pigeon Hawk: 



Falco columbarius bendirei Swann 



DESCRIPTION. "Middle tail feathers crossed by not more than four blackish or five 

 lighter bands. Adult male: under parts heavily striped on whitish, buffy, or rusty 

 ground, striping lightest or wanting on throat; upper parts bluish gray, with black 

 shaft streaks, hind neck mixed with whitish, buffy, or yellowish brown; wing 

 quills blackish, inner webs distinctly barred or spotted. Adult female: upper parts 

 brownish, top and sides of head streaked with blackish; under parts whitish or 

 buffy, without rusty tinge. Young: like female but darker, or tinged with rusty or 

 yellowish brown above, and whitish or buffy below. Si%e: Male, length 10-11, 

 wing 7.40-7.80, tail 4.65-5.zo, bill .48-. 50. Female, length 11.50-13.15, wing 

 8.35-8.60, tail 5.30-5.50, bill .55-. 60." (Bailey) Nest: On cliffs or in trees, those in 

 the latter situations built of sticks and lined with feathers, shredded bark, or 

 moss. Eggs: 4 or 5, ground color white, usually suffused with reddish brown. 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Alaska, Yukon, and northwestern Mackenzie 

 to British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, and south in mountains to Cali- 

 fornia. In Oregon: Very rare breeding bird and uncommon migrant and winter resi- 

 dent in eastern Oregon. Very rare straggler west of Cascades. 



THE PIGEON HAWK was first recorded from Oregon by Townsend (1839). 

 Newberry (1857) reported it as paired and nesting about Klamath Lake. 

 Bendire (1877), under the name F. c. richardsoni, reported a nest contain- 

 ing young in May 1876, which he stated was the only nest he had seen, 

 although later he listed eggs taken at Camp Harney, April 2.0, 1876 

 (Bendire 1892.). Merrill (1888) reported it from Fort Klamath and Dia- 

 mond Lake, and Anthony (1886) regarded it as rare in Washington 

 County. Willett (1919) listed two taken in August near Malheur Lake, 

 and there are scattered references to it in Biological Survey field notes for 

 Oregon, including two specimens taken in August 1914, in Lake County, 

 by L. J. Goldman and a record of the bird at Empire, Coos County, in 

 October, by D. D. Streeter, Jr. 



In our own experience, this little falcon is an uncommon bird in Oregon 

 except in late August and September, the period in which most of our 

 records fall. We have specimens taken in Wallowa (April n), Harney 

 (September 16), Gilliam (December 2.2.), Malheur (December 5), and 

 Klamath (January 2.2.) Counties and sight records under favorable condi- 

 tions in Grant, Klamath, Lake, Washington, and Jackson Counties, all 

 in eastern Oregon except the last two. The species is perhaps more 

 common than these records indicate, but except under favorable observa- 

 tional conditions it can easily be confused with the more plentiful young 



