302 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Their food to a great extent consists of small birds, and no hesitation 

 is shown in attacking one fully as large or even larger than themselves. 

 In the summer grasshoppers and crickets, as well as other insects, furnish a 

 considerable portion of their daily fare. 



In the southern portions of their range nidification begins probably 

 about the end of March or the first week in April, and correspondingly 

 later farther north. In central Alaska and the Anderson River country it 

 is protracted till the latter part of May or the beginning of June, and occa- 

 sionally even later. Incubation probably lasts about three weeks, and but a 

 single brood is raised in a season. The eggs are generally four or five in 

 number, and these vary considerably in shape; some are short ovate, others 

 rounded ovate, some nearer oval, and a few specimens elliptical ovate. The 

 shell of the egg is close grained, and without luster. The ground color when 

 visible is pale creamy white as a rule, and is hidden by a reddish brown 

 suffusion of various degrees of intensity, and this, again, is finely marked 

 or boldly blotched, with different shades of burnt umber, claret brown and 

 vinaceous rufous. These markings are generally equally and profusely dis- 

 tributed over the entire egg, and are superficial; occasionally they are most 

 distinct about one of the ends, being disposed in the shape of a wreath. Com- 

 pared with the eggs of other Falcons, they resemble those of the Duck Hawk 

 (Falco peregrinus anatum) closer than any others as far as coloration is con- 

 cerned. 



The average measurement of twenty-seven specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection, is 40.5 by 31.5 millimetres. The largest egg of the series, 

 from Fort Yukon, Alaska, measures 44.5 by 33, the smallest 37.5 by 33 milli- 

 metres. 



Of the type specimens, No. 6192 (PI. 10, Fig. 8), from an incomplete set 

 of two eggs, was taken June 6, 1860, near Fort Resolution, Great Slave 

 Lake, by Mr. Alexander McKenzie, and No. 8808 (PL 10, Fig. 4), from a set of 

 four eggs, was collected by Mr. R. McFarlane at Anderson River Fort, Arctic 

 North America, in June, 1863. 



ioi. Falco columbarius suckleyi Ridgway. 



BLACK MERLIN. 



Falco columbarius var. suckleyi Ridgway, Bulletin Essex Institute, v, December, 



1873, 201. 

 (B — C 344a, R, 417a, C 506, U 357a.) 



Geographical range : Northwest coast region from California to Sitka, Alaska; 

 east to eastern Washington and Oregon. 



Scarcely anything is known about the breeding habits of this the dark- 

 est colored and handsomest of our Merlins. Its range probably includes the 

 mountain regions from northern California to Alaska, along the coast ; and in 

 the interior it is found in southern Oregon (Fort Klamath) and eastern Wash- 



