THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 389 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size; dark coloration; black "moustache"; long 

 pointed wings; swift, easy flight. 



Nest, on cliffs or in hollow limbs of the tallest trees. Eggs, 3 or 4, creamy- 

 white, buffy, light hazel, or rich cinnamon-brown, in the latter cases sometimes 

 plain, otherwise spotted and blotched with reddish brown or chocolate. Av. size, 

 2.05 X 1.65 (S2.I X 41.9). 



General Range. — North America at large and south to Chili. Breeds locally 

 throughout most of its United States range. 



Range in Ohio. — Not common visitor. Probably less common than for- 

 merly. May have bred in the State. 



THE name Duck Hawk is really a tribute to the skill and prowess of 

 this highly endowed bird, but it is belittling, nevertheless, to institute a com- 

 parison, however remote, between the noble Peregrine and the multitudinous 

 "Hen Hawk" of the vulgar conception. This is the Peregrine Falcon, the 

 American bird being not different save for a somewhat whiter breast (which 

 only enhances its beauty) from the falcon gentil of song and story, the most 

 courageous, the most spirited of all birds of prey. It secures an intended 

 victim either by striking it from above and bearing it down to earth by its 

 acquired momentum, or else by snatching it from the ground with incredible 

 swiftness. Many stories are told of its seizing and making off with wounded 

 game from under the very nose of the hunter, and it is especially fearless in its 

 pursuit of wild ducks, which it is said tO' follow systematically for days at 

 a time during the migrations. 



The Peregrine Falcon is only occasionally noted within the limits of this 

 state. In the fall of 1901 a specimen was taken alive in a room of one of the 

 State University buildings, which it had evidently entered in pursuit of game, 

 and it was kept for a while in a cage before being mummified in the interests of 

 science. Early the following spring, March 6th it was, another bird was seen, 

 hunting low over the north end of Columbus. The dark plumage and long 

 pointed wings, with the easy, graceful, or dashing flight, furnish good recog- 

 nition marks in the field. On a windy day the bird rises against the wind, kite 

 fashion, to immense heights, where it careers about or plunges madly down 

 and up again, apparently for sheer love of sport. 



While it has not been found nesting in the state, it may do so, since Mr. 

 Robert Ridgway, in the spring of 1878, found nests in the Wabash Valley, as 

 far south as Mount Carmel, Illinois. "Three nests were found in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the town. All were placed in cavities in the top of very large 

 sycamore trees, and were inaccessible. One of these trees was felled, however, 

 and measurements with a tape line showed the nest to have been eighty-nine feet 

 from the ground, its location being a shallow cavity, caused by the breaking 

 off of the main limb, the upper part of which projected over sufficiently to form 

 a protection from the sun and the rain." 



