Jax., 1909. Birds of Illinois axd Wisconsin — Cory. 481 



170a. Falco columbarius richardsonii (Ridgw.). 

 Richardson's Pigeon Hawk. Richardson's Merlin. 



Falco richardsonii Ridgw., A. O. U. Check List, 1895. p. 139. 



Distr. : North America, west of the Mississippi V^alley, from the 

 Saskatchewan to Arizona and west to the Pacific coast; accidental 

 in Wisconsin. 



This western form may be distinguished from F. columbarius by 

 its lighter color, the tail banded by six pale and five darker bands; 

 and outer webs of primaries, distinctly spotted. 



Mr. Charles K. Worthen writes me he has killed a bird of this 

 species at Warsaw, 111., and according to Kumlien and HoUister a 

 number of specimens have been taken in Wisconsin. They write: 

 " We have two specimens from Stevens Point and have taken it 

 several times during the past ten years at Lake Koshkonong. 

 * * * * A fine specimen in Mr. Skavlem's collection was shot near 

 Janesville in the fall of 1886. "(Birds of Wisconsin, 1903, p. 67.) It 

 has also been recorded from ^Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, and 

 Iowa. 



Subgenus CERCHNEIS Boile. 

 171. Falco sparverius Linn. 

 American Sparrow Hawk. 



Distr.: "North America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and from 

 Great Slave Lake south to northern South America." (A. O. U.) 



Adult male: Top of head, bluish slate color, with a spot of rufous 

 brown on back of crown; back, rufous brown, banded with black; 

 ramp and tail, rufous brown, irregularly marked with more or 

 less black and having a broad subterminal band of black tipped with 

 white; wing coverts, slate color, marked with black; primaries, dark 

 grayish brown, banded with white on the inner webs; a stripe of black 

 extending from beneath the eye down the side of the throat; throat, 

 whitish; breast, brownish bufif; sides of belly, buffy w^hite, spotted 

 with black. 



Adult female: Crown, rufous; the nape, slate color; rest of upper 

 parts, rufous brown, banded with black; upper surface of tail, bright 

 rufous brown, with numerous narrow bands of black, and narrowly 

 tipped with buffy white; primaries, banded with brown and white 

 and with more or less rufous bordering the shafts; under parts, dull 

 white or buffy white, streaked with pale brown. 



