306 LlFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIEDS. 



104. Falco fusco-ccerulescens Vieillot. 



APLOMADO FALCON. 



Falco fusco-coerulescens Vieillot, Nouveau Dictionaire, xi, 1817, 90. 



(B 9, C 347, R 419, C 511, U 359.) 



Geographical range: Tropical America in general (except West Indies), north 

 to southern Texas and the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. 



The breeding range of the handsome Aplomado Falcon, a common and 

 widely distributed Central and South American species, as far as known at 

 present, is along the southwestern border of the United States, through the 

 valley of the Rio Grande from • southern and southwestern Texas to south- 

 western New Mexico and southern Arizona. It has not as yet been met with 

 in Lower California, and it is doubtful if it occurs there. 



In its habits, compared with other Falcons, it is said to be rather spirit- 

 less and does not appear to possess the dash of the Pigeon Hawk or the 

 Duck Hawk, between which it is intermediate in size. 



Dr. James C. Merrill, U. S. Army, is the first naturalist who found it 

 breeding within our borders. In his "Notes on Birds observed in the 

 vicinity Fort Brown, Texas," he says: "During 1876 and 1877, I had occa- 

 sionally seen a Hawk that I felt confident was of this species, but did not 

 succeed in obtaining any specimens. On the 16th of June of the latter 

 year, I found a nest placed in the top of a low Spanish bayonet, growing 

 in Palo Alto prairie, about 7 miles from Fort Brown. After waiting a long 

 time I wounded the female, but she sailed off over the prairie and went 

 down among some tall grass, where she could not be found; the male did 

 not come within gunshot, though he rose twice from the nest on my ap- 

 proach. The nest was a slightly depressed platform of twigs, with a little 

 grass for lining. The eggs, three in number, were rotten, though containing 

 well developed embryos. They measured 1.81 by 1.29, 1.77 by 1.33 and 1.88 

 by 1.33 inches, respectively [equal to about 46 by 32.8, 45 by 33.8, and 47.8 

 by 33.8 millimetres]. 



"On May 7, 1878, a second nest was found within 100 yards of the 

 one just mentioned and the parent secured. The nest in situation and 

 construction was precisely like the other, except that the yucca was higher, 

 the top being about 12 feet from the ground. The eggs were three in num- 

 ber, all well advanced, but one with a dead embryo. They measured 1.78 by 

 1.34, 1.82 by 1.29, and 1.73 by 1.32 inches, respectively [equal to about 45.2 

 by 34, 46.3 by 32.7, and 44 by 33.5 millimetres]. The ground color is white, 

 but so thickly dotted with reddish brown as to appear of that color; over 

 these are somewhat heavier markings of deeper shades of brown." 1 



Among an exceedingly interesting collection of birds, nests, and eggs, 

 made by Lieut. Harry C. Benson, Fourth Cavalry, U. S. Army, while sta- 



1 Proceedings U. g. National Museum, Vol. 1, 1878, p. 152. 



