BIRDS. 147 



yards, only noticing their presence by slowly turning its head. It was seen in the vicinity of 

 Bering Straits and around the shore of Norton Sound during the cruise of the Corwin in the 

 summer of 1881, as also upon the northeast shore of Siberia in the vicinity of East Cape and 

 Plover Bay. Swinhoe records specimens of this bird from Pekin, China, and it also occurs in the 

 Kurile Islands. At Saint Michaels on May 1, 1881, a specimen of this bird was brought me by a 

 native woman, who had taken it from one of her Ptarmigan snares, where it was caught just after 

 having robbed another snare .of a Ptarmigan. The iris of a specimen taken on October 6, 1880, was 

 dark hazel, and the large scales on the upper surface of the feet and tarsus were a greenish- 

 yellow, the rest of the feet and tarsus being livid greenish ; the bill was horn blue. Another 

 specimen, taken on October 12, had the cere, like the tarsus, livid bluish-green ; the bill was 

 dark horn color at the tip and bluish-green at the base. 



, Falco pbeegrinxjs anatum (Bonap.). Duck Hawk. 



A single specimen of this widely ranging species was obtained bj^ Mr. McQuesten on the Upper 

 Yukon at Fort Reliance on September 16, 1878. Dall found it breeding on the Middle Yukon, 

 nesting in dead spruces and with the young nearly ready to fly on June 1 , 1867. It is found in 

 all the wooded parts of Alaska, from Sitka north to the extreme tree-limit. All the specimens 

 from the southeast coast of the Territory, however, are to be referred to the dark variety pealei. 

 The specimens from the Yukon are identical with others taken in the United States. All writers 

 who have studied the Duck Hawk in life agree in giving it the reputation of being a swift and 

 courageous marauder. It sits quietly perched on some point of vantage, whence it dashes with 

 surprising quickness upon its prey. 



On Cumberland Island and the west coast of Baffin's Bay Kumlien found this bird to be a 

 regular summer resident, which, with the Alaskan and British American records, show that it 

 reaches the northern Arctic portions of America entirely across the continent. 



Along the eastern coast of Asia the Old World form, the true peregr inus, is recorded by various 

 authors, and Nordeuskjold found a pair with young on the north coast of Asia in about latitude 

 70°. 



Faloo peregbinus pealei Ridgw. Peale's Falcon. 



Along the southeastern coast of the Territory from Kadiak to Sitka this dark handsome 

 variety of the Duck Hawk is found, perhaps entirely replacing -its more eastern and northern 

 relative. It has not been recorded from the interior or northern portion of the Territory to thft 

 north of the Alaskan Mountains ; but in Dall's paper on the birds of the Western Aleutian Islands, 

 in the Proceedings of the Californian Academy of Sciences, he records the following: 



The form of Arctic Falcon referred to under this name is, according to Professor Baird, a true Gyrfalcon as 

 distinguished from oandicaiis and islandicua, and has now its first record on American Territory. 



Turner found it to be not rare upon the Near Islands, and Stejneger found it common on the 

 Commander Islands. 



A male bird, the subject of the preceding note by Dall, was taken at Kyska Island, at the 

 western end of the Aleutian chain, on June 30, 1873, where a number had their nests on the brow of 

 a precipitous cliff at the western end of the harbor. They were seen by the same naturalist at 

 Amchitka Island later in the season. It did not appear to be common, and was the only hawk seen 

 west of Unalaska. A note confirming the quotation just made was published in the American 

 Naturalist for July, 1874, but Mr. Ridgway informs me that he has since examined the specimen 

 upon which the identification and just quoted notes were made, and finds this specimen is really a 

 typical example of Falco pealei; so that the range of this bird is extended to the extreme western end 

 of the Aleutian chain. During the last of September, 1881, as the Corwin approached the Aleutian 

 Islands from the north, with pleasant weather and a light wind, some half dozen specimens of this 

 Duck Hawk were seen, one after another, as they came circling about the ship, and after remain- 

 ing a short time, each departed to the southwest toward the island of Unalaska, which was in 

 sight. All came from the direction of Akoutan Island. Several of these birds came very close to 

 the vessel, and with the naked eye appeared almost black ; but by the aid of a pair of good glasses 



