260 



THE OOLOG1ST. 



head, breast and tail. The back is gray 

 and the. shoulders black. It's flight is 

 graceful and easy, but as Davie states, 

 not rapid. I watched one this year 

 which was apparently bound for some 

 distant point, and its flight appeared 

 labored. When soaring about the 

 fields the Kite utters a short sharp 

 whistle at frequent intervals and this 

 will often attract one's attention, 

 though the bird may be obscured by the 

 foliage of the trees. 



Prairie Falcon. 



This beautiful Falcon also inhabits 

 California, breeding in wild and moun- 

 tainous localities. It is perhaps the 

 most daring of any of its family, and 

 does not hesitate to attack animals 

 of greater weight than itself . It preys 

 largely upon quail and other birds that 

 occur in its locality, and seldom if ever, 

 feeds on a dead body, but prefers to 

 pursue, overpower and kill its prey. 

 The Prairie Falcon is handsomely 

 plumaged at certain seasons of the 

 year. The back is brownish-black and 

 the head perceptibly darker, while the 

 breast varies from a buff or creamy- 

 white to pure white. The female is 

 larger than the male, measuring some 

 20 inches in length. This Falcon is ex- 

 tremely shy and to approach within 

 gunshot of oue is a difficulty feat. 



This bird usually inhabits the wild 

 mountainous regions of this state and 

 are not by any meaus common breed- 

 ers. Mr. Samuel C. Evans in a conver- 

 sation with a friend, recently, spoke of 

 collecting sets of the Prairie Falcon at 

 a point in the mountains not ten miles 

 from San Jose, but though a number of 

 collectors as well as myself have visited 

 the locality in quest of -Golden Eagles' 

 eggs we have never me' the bird Mr. 

 Evans did active work in collecting 

 eggs of the Raptores several years ago 

 in Santa Clara county, but I am of the 

 opinion that this Falcon, as well as 

 other rare species have forsaken the 



ocalities mentioned owing to the ap- 

 proach of civilization. 



The eggs of the Prairie Falcon ex- 

 hibit the beautiful markings character- 

 istic of the family of Falcons. I have 

 before me a set of three eggs from the 

 collection of Mr. A. Halsey of this city. 

 They were collected for him by a friend 

 in the mountains near Colton, San Ber- 

 nardino Co., Cal. The nest" was con- 

 structed of sticks and placed on the 

 summit of an almost inaccessible cliff, 

 and was reached only after a perilous 

 climb. The eggs exhibit the following 

 dimensions: 2.06x1.50, 2.13x1.50 aud 

 2.12x1.50. The ground color is a 

 creamy-white, and two of the eggs are 

 heavily blotched and clouded with 

 burnt umber and various shades of 

 brown so as to almost obscure the back- 

 ground, while the third egg is lightly 

 marked with small dots and specks of 

 brown. They form a handsome set. 

 The party by whom the set was col- 

 ' lected, visited the nest the following 

 season and was rewarded with a set of 

 two eggs of the American Raven, which 

 resembles closely eggs of the American 

 Crow in color, but are of course much 

 larger. C. Barlow, 



San Jose, Calif. 



Nesting of the Brown Creeper. 



May 30, 1891, I visited some islands 

 in the Mississippi river a couple of miles 

 below Davenport. Iowa. On one of 

 these were a number of dead willow 

 stubs. While sitting in. the boat wait- 

 ing for a friend, [ saw a pair of Brown 

 Creepers alight on a large stub about 

 20 feet above the ground ami disappear 

 under a large strip of loose bark. On 

 climbing the tree I found between the 

 bark and the tree trunk a nest compos- 

 ed of wool ami other soft substauces 

 and containiuo- 3 young birds a day or 

 so old. This is the first instance ever 

 reported, as far as I am able to ascer- 

 tain, of these birds nesting iu.Iowa or 

 Illinois. Buktis Ff. W t ilson. 



2023 Rock Island St-, Davenport la. 



