Richardson’s Pigeon-Hawk 189 
mountains and a few perhaps stay out the winter. Rockwell saw an 
example on Plateau creek in Mesa co. at about 6,000 feet, December 
23rd, 1901. Other notices are: Estes Park, not uncommon (Kellogg), 
Denver (McGregor), El Paso co., May (Aiken coll.), Wet Mountains 
to 8,500 feet (Lowe); Fort Lewis, breeding (Morrison). 
Habits.—The Pigeon-Hawk is a bold little bird, and 
represents the Merlin of Europe. It preys chiefly on 
other birds, often successfully attacking those larger than 
itself, such as Mourning Doves, Flickers and Grackles. 
In the summer it catches large numbers of insects, 
especially dragon-flies and grasshoppers. Cooke stated 
that it breeds from the plains to about 9,000 feet, but 
the only account of its nesting in Colorado, which I 
have met with, is that of Morrison, who took a set of 
five eggs, June 3rd, 1887, near Fort Lewis. The nest 
was in a clump of alders about eight feet up, and was 
composed of small twigs loosely put together, and lined 
with dry grass and a few feathers. 
Bendire states that the nest is sometimes an open 
one in a spruce or other tree, sometimes placed in a 
hollow limb, and at other times on ledges of cliffs or 
bluffs. The eggs, generally four in number, are creamy- 
white, blotched or sometimes wholly suffused with 
reddish-brown, and measure 1°6 x 1°25. 
Richardson’s Pigeon-Hawk. 
Falco columbarius richardsoni. 
A.0.U. Checklist no 357b—Colorado Records—Ridgway 73, p. 186; 
Coues 74, p. 347; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 197; Drow 85, p. 17; 
Morrison 89, p. 65; Goss 91, p. 286 ; Lowe 94, p. 267 ; Cooke 97, p. 76 ; 
Henderson 09, p. 229; Hersey & Rockwell 09, p. 117. 
Description.—Resembling F. columbarius, but lighter in colour, and 
the tail with five almost white bands alternating with five black bands, 
the broader terminal black one tipped with white; the primaries 
distinctly spotted on the outer webs. Dimensions the same. 
The female and young male are quite different from the corresponding 
stages in the type species. Above earthy-brown, each feather with a 
