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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



FIVE LITTLE FALCONS AND HOW THEY GREW — 



On a high cliff ledge were laid the eggs, creamy white and heavily marked with chestnut and 

 cinnamon — "just the color that makes you want to reach out and grab them," as a small boy put it. 

 Next appear the downy "quintuplets," nine days old, uttering yawns and faint whistling peeps. At 16 

 days, four of the five seem too drowsy to hold up their heads. The prairie falcon does not con- 

 struct a nest, but frequently pirates the stick home of a raven or some other bird of prey. 



