20 TAVERNER, Birds of Red Deer River, Alta. [$"n. 



the agreeable surprises of the trip. Throughout our descent of the river 

 a close watch was taken for the species as it was hoped that Richardson's 

 Merlin would be found. Birds were seen at a distance at Tolman's Ferry 

 and Drumheller that were ascribed to this species but either the distance 

 was too great or else the glimpse too fleeting to make positive determination, 

 so up to the time of my leaving from Camp 11 we had no satisfactory 

 record of the species. Shortly after I left Young began to find them quite 

 numerous and to September 20, thirteen were taken. Of these but one 

 was true F. c. columbarius, the remainder including 4 adult and 6 juvenile 

 males and 2 juvenile females being typical richardsoni. We have also 

 a male and female taken in June, in Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan; two 

 more, probably an original pair from Edmonton taken by Spreadborough 

 in May and a female with two downy young taken by Dippie near Calgary. 

 It can be seen that in all we have a very good series of these birds, yet 

 amongst them I can not see the slightest tendency towards columbarius 

 and am strongly inclined to regard richardsonii as a true species bearing 

 the same relation to columbarius as Falco mexicanus does to F. peregrinus. 

 The oft repeated statements copied from earlier descriptions inferring that 

 this is practically a single plumaged species are certainly incorrect. Males 

 are distinct from females and adults from juveniles; and all are easily 

 separated from columbarius in any plumage. 



72.* Falco sparverius. AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK. This species 

 was not very common on the upper reaches of the river but as we descended 

 we found them more and more numerous until at Camp 5, Ross's Ranch, 

 there were at least four nests within three minutes' walk of our tent, and 

 below, every suitable stub along the banks contained a nest. We noted 

 them several times essaying the role of Kingbird and badgering large hawks 

 that intruded upon their privacy. 



73. Pandion haliaetus. OSPREY. At Camp 1 , just below Red Deer, 

 I saw a bird that, at the time, I was confident was this species but 

 not meeting it again I had removed it from the list of verified species. 

 However, Horsbrough reports information of a pair that, up to a few years 

 ago, nested at Pine Lake some twenty-five miles southwest of Red Deer, 

 the birds being last seen there April 26, 1915. 



74.* Asio wilsonianus. LONG-EARED OWL. Not noted by us but 

 we have specimens taken by Geo. Sternberg at Morrin, October 1 and 8, 

 1916, and at Alix, September and October, 1914, by Horsbrough who records 

 a nest at Buffalo Lake. 



75.* Asio flammeus. SHORT-EARED OWL. Young took one on the 

 upper prairie level near Camp 11, on the Little Sandhill Creek, September 5. 

 Besides this we have one from Alix, October 1914, taken by Horsbrough 

 who also records a nest at Buffalo Lake. 



76. Scotiaptex nebulosa. GREAT GRAY OWL. According to W. 

 Raine, Dippie secured a set of eggs in the Red Deer District, probably 

 about 1896. This likely remains the extreme southern breeding record for 

 the species. 



