154 ALLEN, NOTES ON 



breeds on the cliffs of Grand Menan, where it is resident 

 the whole year.* Although the young have been procur- 

 ed, as above stated, from Mount Tom and Sugar Loaf 

 Mountain several times in the last few years, and according 

 to Dr. W. Wood, also from Talcott Mountainf, I am not 

 aware that the eggs have been found in New England, or 

 even in the United States, before the present season, when 

 they were procured from a nest on Mount Tom, ( April 

 1.9th, 1864) by Mr. C. W. Bennett J. The only egg figured 

 by Dr. Brewer was from Greenland, and its authenticity not 

 ascertained wholly beyond doubt. Dr. Brewer mentions 

 a drawing in his posession, by Dr. Trudeau, of another 

 egg from Labrador ; these being the only specimens to 

 which he then had access. 



In fall, winter and spring, this Falcon is not unfrequent 

 along our Eastern sea coast, wherever its favorite prey, the 

 sea ducks and other marine birds, abounds, but it is not at 

 that season very commonly distributed over the country. 

 Although it has been found throughout Eastern North 

 America, chiefly near rivers, from Greenland to Cuba, and 

 as far westward as the mouth of the Vermillion River, on 

 the Upper Missouri§, but little definite information has yet 

 come to ornithologists of its distribution and habits in the 

 breeding season. Hitherto it has generally been supposed 

 to retire to regions north of the United States to spend 

 the summer and rear its young|| ; and though many do so, 

 quite a proportion, it is evident, are resident in the northern 

 parts of the United States the whole year, retiring to inac- 

 cessible cliffs for the purpose of breeding, and thus generally 

 escaping the notice of naturalists during that important 

 season. Poultry yards that chance to be in the vicinity of 

 its nests are so frequently visited for plunder by this daring 



*Proc. Bost. Soc. N. IL, Vol. IX, p, 12-2, (Sept., 1862). 



f Hartford, (Conn.) Times, June 24, 1861. 



JThe writer is indebted to the kindness of Mr. Caleb W. Bennett, of 

 Springfield. Mass. , for the specimens and many important facts which 

 form the basis of the present article. Great credit, is due Mr. Bennett 

 for the persevering efforts he has made to discover and procure the eggs 

 of the Duck Hawk ; his complete success has not been unmerited. 



$>¥. R, R. Ex. and Surv. Vol. IX. p. 7. 



||Aubudon found it breeding quite plentifully along the high rocky 

 shores of Labrador and Newfoundland. 



