622 



BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 



This manner of nesting; on the ground, in the depressions or on the 

 projections of the cut-banks, seems to be readily adopted in this treeless 

 region by all the Hawks, which, under other circumstances, regularly 

 build in trees. 



I should not omit to add that a colony of Cliff Swallows had affixed 

 their nests of mud to the same embankment, a few yards from the site 

 of the Falcon's eyrie, and appeared to be undisturbed in the possession 



of their homes. 



List of specimens. 



FALCO COMMUNIS, Gm. 



Peregrine Falcon; Ditck Hawk. 



As already stated in the foregoing account of F. polyagrus, the Pere- 

 grine was nesting in the same place and under precisely similar condi- 

 tions. Another pair had a nest about ten miles away on the same 

 stream. Here the earth bank was perpendicular, and lying flat upon 

 the brink I could look directly, into the nest, which rested on a slight 

 shelf about 12 feet below. It contained three young, not yet fledged, 

 July 19. On approaching the spot, while yet several hundred yards 

 away, I observed both parents circling high in the air, venting their 

 displeasure at the prospective invasion in loud, harsh cries. On reach- 

 ing the spot, I saw that the male thought it prudent to have business 

 elsewhere, but the more couragous mother bird, desperate with fear 

 and anger, made repeated dashes within a few feet of my head, till I 

 judged it just as well to destroy her, as I'had designs upon the young. 

 She fell hurtling with a broken wing at the foot of the cliff, 30 or 40 

 yards below. The eyrie was totally inaccessible from below, and, as I 

 had no rope, it was equally so from above. I tried for a long time to 

 lasso the young ones and draw them up with a piece of cordj but they 

 had a way of freeing themselves just before the noose drew tight, and 

 I was obliged to leave them. 



List of specimens. 



