OLD CROW 183 



year in certain areas, where they also nest, and this is assumed to be 

 their status near Old Crow. 



Falco peregrinus anatum Bonaparte 



4 fresh eggs Jiine 8 



On May 5 a male and female peregrine were calling and appar- 

 ently settled on the cliffs just below Dave Lord Creek. Guano near 

 perches there indicated long use. After May 16 a male and female 

 peregrine were occasionally seen and heard near the mouth of Old 

 Crow River, a vicinity where Robert Bruce said that they often nested. 

 At the end of the first portage across the long bend of the river, about 

 6 miles due east of Old Crow, a pair of peregrines were seen about 

 a cavity in the cliff, and there Sidney and Leonard Peyton obtained 

 four fresh eggs on June 8. Since peregrines are reported to lay their 

 eggs every other day (Bent, 1938) we can estimate that the first was 

 laid about June 1. 



On June 13 eight peregrines, six of them associated as if in pairs, 

 were seen at separate cliffs during 40 miles travel along Porcupine 

 River. Because almost every suitable cliff was occupied, it is doubt- 

 ful if many of the nesting peregrines remained unseen. 



The Indians know this bird as Chinechun. 



We had noticed in April that over a hundred old nests of cliff swal- 

 lows were located along about a quarter of a mile of these cliffs where 

 the peregrines' nest had evidently been situated for many years. 

 Stalagmites of guano showed the ancient occupation by cliff swallows 

 of some of the positions, and bulkier accumulations of guano near 

 perches of the peregrines showed their long use of the area. 



At the time the peregrines' eggs were found the nearest completed 

 nest of cliff swallows was 100 feet distant, and within 200 yards were 

 over a hundred nests in various stages of completion. It seems as if 

 cliff swallows would be especially susceptible to attack during their 

 social swarming, mating, and nesting. Accounts of peregrines' feed- 

 ing indicate that in some places they capture and devour rough-winged 

 swallows (Bent, 1938). To pluck nestling swallows from their nests 

 would require no exertion of the strength of the peregrine's claws. 



In his description of cliff swallows, Alfred Gross (Bent, 1942) re- 

 ported that Coues, Taverner, and Forbush had each commented upon 

 swallows nesting on cliffs where prairie falcons also nested, and said 

 that Taverner also found them about a duck hawk's nest. Moreau 

 (1942) has compiled numerous reports of African birds nesting close 

 to insects which repel the approach of other animals by stinging, and 

 several instances of small bird's nesting on the nest structure of larger 

 birds which are usually considered to be predatory. 



We did not observe the peregrines bothering the swallows, and it is 



469496—60 13 



