182 17. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



guished as male and female, were pursuing separate courses parallel 

 to the Eiver hunting near the village. These birds repeated these 

 hunting flights many times daily, but were not seen working to- 

 gether. This is the pair which I collected. During early May a 

 marsh hawk was occasionally seen on the opposite side of the river 

 and appeared to occupy an adjacent territory. Marsh hawks were 

 seen several times along Porcupine Valley and a few times over the 

 tundra above tree line on Old Crow Mountains. 



The male specimen contained a Microtus in its gizzard. The en- 

 larged Qgg in the female showed that it was near condition for laying. 



The wide distribution of marsh hawks in winter from British 

 Columbia to Massachusetts does not suggest the probable wintering 

 area of the Yukon birds. The direction of a few migratory flights 

 suggests their arrival on the Porcupine from the southeast. 



This bird is known by the Indians as Tzecho. 



Family PANDIONIDAE: Ospreys 



Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (Gmelin) 



On May 17 two ospreys flew up Porcupine Kiver and circled several 

 times close to the small channel of open water cut through the ice at 

 the mouth of Old Crow Eiver. They then proceeded up Old Crow 

 Eiver as if migrating northward. Later in the day an osprey was 

 seen searching over Porcupine Eiver although only a few channels 

 of water were running on top of the ice. On May 20, still before ice 

 started running in the Porcupine an osprey was seen carrying a fish 

 westward past the village. A mile downstream it soared with its 

 load to a great altitude before disappearing. Subsequently trans- 

 portation of fish in this direction was observed several times, and 

 ospreys were occasionally seen along the Porcupine. 



The Indian name for the osprey is Thuk. 



Family FALCONIDAE: Falcons 

 Falco rusticolus Linnaeus 



We did not recognize a gyrfalcon, although numerous peregrines 

 were seen. From an illustration and by comparison with peregrines 

 Joe Kay named the gyrfalcon Kwi tsi chi, and said that it nested in 

 spruce trees. Gyrf alcons are not mentioned by Eand ( 1946) as having 

 been reported among birds of Yukon territory, but they were seen by 

 Kessel, Murie, and Schaller (Unpubl. Ms.) on upper Sheen jek Eiver 

 in the Brooks Eange. We consider this nearby observation to confirm 

 reports by the Indians that gyrfalcons occurred near Old Crow. In 

 the arctic interior of Alaska gyrfalcons are settled throughout the 



