BIRDS OF .\OKTHEEX CAXADA 365 



Mr. R. [MacFarlane, who took several of their nests, says : 

 •This falcon ranges along the Anderson Eiver to near the 

 Arctic coast of Liverpool Bay. Several of their nests had 

 apparently been built on spruce trees and others on ledges 

 of shaly cliffs. The former were composed externally of a 

 few dry willow twigs and internally of withered hay or 

 grasses, etc., and the latter had only a very few decayed 

 leaves under the eggs. In one instance the oviduct of the 

 female contained an egg almost ready for extrusion; it was 

 coloured like the others, but the pigment was still so soft 

 that it adhered to the fingers on being touched. Other speci- 

 mens taken from the oviduct were perfectly white. I would 

 also mention the following interesting circumstance : On the 

 25th of May, 1864, a trusty Indian in my employ found a 

 nest placed in the midst of a thick branch of a pine spruce 

 tree, at a height of about six feet from the ground. It was 

 rather loosely constructed of a few dry sticks and a small 

 quantity of coarse hay. It then contained two eggs. Both 

 parents were seen, fired at and missed. On the 31st he 

 revisited the nest, which still held but two eggs, and again 

 missed shooting the birds. Several days later he made 

 another visit thereto, and, to his surprise, the eggs and parents 

 had disappeared. His first impression was that some other 

 person had taken them; but, after carefully looking around, 

 he perceived both birds at a short distance, and this led him 

 to institute a search, which soon resulted in his finding that 

 the eggs must have been removed by the parents to the face 

 of a muddy bank at least forty yards distant from the orig- 

 inal nest. A few decayed leaves had been placed under 

 them, but nothing else in the way of lining. A third egg 

 had been added in the interim. There can hardly be any 

 doubt of the truth of the foregoing facts.' " (I may now, 

 1908, add that the Indian was positive in saying that no nest 

 had existed at the latter point previously. ) " Mr. James 

 Sibbiston took a nest and eggs at Fort Yukon, Alaska, in 

 June. 1864. Messrs. Robert Kennicott and Alexander Mac- 



