310 NOUTII AMERICAN DIUDS. 



St'vural Hosts woro also taki'ii on the shores nnd among the islets of the 

 Arctic coast, west u\' Livcipool I'.ay. 



Tiic i'li'^ of the lioiii;ii-ic,m,'f(l Hawk taUcu liy the Sloivrs in i.uhnuh)!- 

 measures 2.0(1 inches in ien^tli hy I..S.S in iircaiUii, anil is nearly s|iliurical. 

 TJie uroMiul-color is a soiled wiiite or a li^ht (lnil>, and is marked with a lew 

 faint, ill-deiined spots of lii;iit umher, distributed at intervals over the entire 

 surlace. 



Two European specimens in my eollection are so nearly like the American 

 that till' same description woulil answer lor lioth. They are a trille hirj^'er, 

 but their color and markings arc exactly the same. These ejfgs vary from 

 2.2a to 2.12 inches in leiijj;th, and the breadth of each is 1.7") inches. In one 

 s])ccinien the j,'round-cohir is of a deeper shade of dingy-white, with larger 

 blotches, and its ])urplish-slate markings are internungled with those of 

 und)cr. A fourth, from Switzerland, varies from most others of this species, 

 iind is marked over a crcain-colored ground with very numerous and tjuite 

 large blotches of dinerent siiades of nud)cr and .sepia-i»rown. It measures 

 2.25 by 1.0;j inclu's. 



Six eggs taken by Mr. MacFarlane iia\e an average linigth of 2.18 and an 

 average la'cadth of 1.7!l inches. Their greatest length is 2.24, and their least 

 2.12 inches. There is but very little variation in their breadth, or only 

 from l.TlJ to 1.80 inches. Occasionally these eggs are of a nearly uniform 

 dingy-white, nearly unmarked, and only by very faint cloudings. These 

 cases are .ire. v.euerally they have a creamy-white ground and are boldly 

 marked witn blotches of a varying intensity of umber or .sepia-brown. In- 

 termingled with tlie.se are ob.scure marking.s of a purplish-slate. 



Till! dark variety of the Wough-legged Falcon, recognized by some as the 

 A. n(()irfi-Juli(iiiiiis, Mr. Ifidgway is disposed to regard as rather an individual 

 melanism of the common species, rather than as a distinctive rcace. In this 

 form it appears to be (|uite generally distril)uted over the continent, rather 

 in isolated pairs than as n common bird. It was not taken on the Anderson 

 liiver liy ^Ir. ^lacFarlane, whine the hif/opin^ style was extremely comnutn, 

 hundreds of .skins having been .sent by him to the Smithsonian Institution. 



Tiie dark-colored liirds are seen occasionally in ^las.sachu.setts in the win- 

 ter season, and are usually found fretpienting low alluvial tracts in search 

 of small (juadrupeds and frogs, and occasionally well-marked specimens have 

 been secured in the neighborhood of Boston. A ])air was found breeding 

 near the mouth of the Kennebec lliver in Maine, and the eggs were secured. 

 They were not readily distinguishable from those of the common Iiougli- 

 leggcd Hawk. It is also said, on the authority of Mr. John Krider of 

 Piiiladelphia, to have been found breeding in New Jersey, and the eggs 

 taken. The ])arent bird was not secured. These eggs resemVded well-marked 

 eggs of the /ai/opus. Wilson, who ob.served l>irds in this plumage on the 

 marshy banks of the Delaware, describes tliem as remarkably shy and wary, 

 frequenting river-banks, and feeding on mice, moles, and other small game. 



