FALCONID.'E — THE FALCOiSS. 



187 



Pamtion lindfrtim ( Eiir<'iH.'an j^pwiiiien). 



liouse, iu his rojiurt of tlio exiietlitiou to the Zuui Jfiver, speaks of tliis Hawk 

 as coiiiiiioii along the coasts of Texas and (.'aliforniu. Dr. HeeiMnaun men- 

 tions it as LOinnion on tlie borders of all the large rivers of California in 

 sumuier ; and \h: Cianihel also re- 

 feis to it as abundant along the 

 coast of that State, and on its 

 rocky islands, in which latter lo- 

 calities it breeds. 1 am not aware 

 that it has ever been found far- 

 ther south than Texas, on the 

 eastern coast. On the racilic 

 coast it appear;! to have a more 

 extended distribution both north 

 and south, but nowhere to be so 

 abundant as on certain parts of 

 the Atlantic coast. 



Mr. Ihscholf olitained this spe- 

 cies about Sitka, where he found 

 it breediuii-, and took its eggs ; 

 and Mr. Dall procured several 

 specimens luiar Xidato in May, 

 1807, and iu 18(18. Tliey were 



not unconnnon, frequenting the small streams, ami were summer visitors, 

 retimiing to the same nest each season. Colonel Grayson found it breeding 

 as far soutli as the islands of the Tres IMarias, in latitude 31° 30' north. 

 The nest was on the top of a giant cactus. Mr. Xantus describes it as 

 breeding on the ground at Cape St. Lucas. 



Iu the interior it was met wilh by liichardson, but its migrations do not 

 appear to reach the extreme northern limits of the continent. That ob- 

 serving naturalist saw nothing of this bird when he Avas coasting along the 

 shores of the Arctic Sea, nor did ^Ir. Hearne find it on the barren grounds 

 north of Fort Chuichill. Its eggs were collected on the Mackenzie River 

 by Mr. lioss, and on the Yukon by ^lessrs. Lockhart, Sibbiston, McDougal, 

 and Jones. At Fort Yukon, Mr. Lockhart found it nesting on a high tree 

 (S. I. 15,G76). 



On the Atlantic coast it is found from Labrador to Florida, with the excep- 

 tion of a portion of ]\Iassachusetts around Boston, where it does not breed, 

 and where it is very rarely met with. It is most abmidant from Long 

 Island to the Chesapeake, and throng) lout this long extent of coast is very 

 numerous, often breeding in large communities, to the number of several 

 hundred pairs. Away from the coast it is much less frequent, hut is occa- 

 sionally met with on the banks of the larger rivers and lakes, and in such 

 instances usually iu solitary pairs. Dr. HaydtMi found it nesting in the 

 Wind Iiiver Mountains on the top of a large cottonwood tiee. 



