280 HISTORY OF THE 



taken it from one of her Ptarmigan snares, where it was caught 

 just after having robbed another snare of a Ptarmigan. The 

 iris of a specimen, taken on October 6th, 1880, was dark hazel, 

 and the large scales on the upper surface of the feet and tarsus 

 were a greenish yellow, the rest of the feet and tarsus being 

 livid greenish; the bill was horn blue. Another specimen, ta- 

 ken October 12th, had the cere, like the tarsus, livid bluish 

 green; the bill was dark horn color at the tip and bluish green 

 at the base." 



Their nests are placed upon rocky cliffs, also in tall trees; 

 they are quite bulky, and composed of sticks and withered twigs, 

 and lined with mosses, grasses and other soft substances. Eggs 

 two to three; 2.27x1.76; ground color a dirty yellowish white, 

 sprinkled, spotted and blotched with varying shades of brown; 

 some sparingly marked, others thickly, so as to obscure the 

 ground color; in form, rounded oval. 



Falco mexicanus SCHLEG. 



PRAIRIE FALCON. 

 PLATE XVIII. 



Kesident; rare in the eastern, but not uncommon in the west- 

 ern parts of the State. 



B. 10. R. 413. C. 502. G. 191, 131. U. 355. 



HABITAT. Western United States; east to the eastern borders 

 of the Great Plains (occasionally to Illinois); south into Mexico. 



SP. CIIAH. Top of head grayish brown, streaked with dusky, outer webs of 

 tail feathers without distinct lighter spots (usually quite plain), and outer webs 

 or quills without trace of spots; secondaries with lighter spots oil outer webs 

 under parts and nuchal collar white, the flanks heavily spotted or blotched with 

 dusky, the under tail coverts sparsely spotted with same. Adult male: Above, 

 pale grayish brown (usually tinged more or less with rusty), indistinctly but 

 broadly barred with pale clay color or dark grayish bnffy anteriorly and pale 

 bluish gray posteriorly. Adult (f) female: Above grayish browu, without dis- 

 tinct or well-defined lighter bars, but feathers margined with pale rusty brown 

 or dull whitish, both the ground colors and these edgings paler on posterior por- 

 tions; tail tipped with butfy whitish, the feathers edged with a paler tint of the 

 ground color. Young (both sexes): Above grayish brown, the feathers distinctly 

 margined with light rusty; lower parts pale buffy or buffy whitish, with broader 

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

 and the axillars unbroken dusky. Young, in first summer: Similar to the lire- 

 ceding stage, but color above darker, with rusty margins to feathers more dis- 



