BIRDS OF KANSAS. 279 



than the Duck Hawk, and for courage and dash they stand pre- 

 eminently at the head of the birds of prey. They are not un- 

 common throughout their northern range. Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 says: 



"Throughout all Alaska, from, the Aleutian Islands north, 

 both along the coast and through the interior, extending from 

 Beh ring Straits across the northern portion of British America, 

 the present Falcon is the commonest bird of prey. It was ob- 

 served by Murdock, at Point Barrow, though it was not com- 

 mon. It frequents the vicinity of cliffs and rocky points about 

 the seacoast, or the rocky ravines of the interior, during the 

 breeding season, and the remainder of the year, especially in 

 fall, it is found wandering over the country everywhere that 

 food can be obtained; it is especially numerous during the mi- 

 gration of the Ptarmigan along the seacoast. 



"In Greenland, Holboll found the young moulting through- 

 out the winter; but none of my winter specimens show signs 

 of moulting, and the young specimens in my collection, taken in 

 April and May, still in a striped condition, show no signs of 

 change. MacFarlane found numerous nests of this bird on the 

 Anderson River, nearly all of which were placed in trees, and 

 the eggs were laid in May, the earliest being upon the 10th. 

 Along the seacoast, in the vicinity of St. Michael's, it breeds 

 rarely, choosing roeky cliffs facing the sea. Along the Lower 

 Yukon and Kuskoquim Rivers, in winter, it is numerous, and 

 finds an abundance of Ptarmigan, upon which it preys. At this 

 season it is frequently seen perching on a stout branch of a tree 

 overhanging the river bank, and I have seen it, on several oc- 

 casions, allow a train of dog sledges to pass within forty to fifty 

 yards, only noticing their presence by slowly turning its head. 

 It was seen in the vicinity of Behring Straits and around the 

 shore of Norton Sound, during the cruise of the Corwin, in the 

 summer of 1881, as also upon the northeast shore of Siberia, 

 in the vicinity of East Cape and Plover Bay. Swinhoe records 

 specimens of this bird from Pekin, China, and it also occurs in 

 the Kurile Islands. At St. Michael's, on May 1st, 1881, a speci- 

 men of this bird was brought me by a native woman, who had 



