THE PRAIRIE FALCON 153 



flank markings. Immature birds have the feathers of the back 

 broadly margined with buff. 



Measurements. Length, 17 to 20 inches; wing, 11.60 to 14.30 

 inches ; tail, 6.40 to 9 inches (Fisher). 



Range. From the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas to the Pacific, 

 straggling eastward to Iowa and Illinois. 



This bird of the western plains visits Iowa rarely. Like its near 

 relative, the Duck Hawk, it is a wandering bird, more particularly, 

 however, one of the prairie region ; a "blue-blooded" falcon, power- 

 ful for its size and weight. 



The only Iowa specimen the writer has seen is a male bird, num- 

 ber 3576, in the museum of the State University of Iowa, which was 

 taken at Storm Lake, by Frank Bond. Professor C. C. Nutting has 

 written of this bird in the Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Sci- 

 ence, 1892, p. 41. Dr. R. M. Anderson in "The Birds of Iowa" gives 

 county, records from Black Hawk, Buena Vista, Lee, Linn, Mills, 

 Pottawattamie and Sioux counties. 



Of its nesting habits, Dr. A. K. Fisher says, "The nest is placed 

 usually on a shelf or in a niche on the perpendicular surface of a 'cut 

 bank' so common in parts of the west, or among the crevices of rocky 

 cliffs. It is probable that this Falcon also builds in hollow trees, as 

 the Duck Hawk sometimes does. The eggs, which are usually three 

 in number, though sets of four have occasionally been found, are 

 deposited early in May, and by the latter part of July the young are 

 able to leave the nest." Captain Bendire notes that sets of eggs com- 

 monly five in number are found in the western parts of the United 

 States. According to Ridgway, the eggs are "creamy white, vina- 

 ceous white, or pale vinaceous buffy, sprinkled, speckled, or irregu- 

 larly spotted with madder brown, 2.06 by 1.60 inches." There are 

 no records of its having nested in Iowa. 



Of eleven stomachs examined as recorded in The Hawks and 

 Owls of the U. S., by Dr. A. K. Fisher, p. 106, 1893, "3 contained 

 game birds ; 5, other birds ; 2, mammals ; 2, insects ; and 3 were 

 empty." 



Since individuals of this species reach Iowa rarely, their influence 

 with us is negligible except as they help decimate the injurious faunal 

 pests of western and southwestern regions which, if uncontrolled, 

 might extend their range to our state. 



