The Prairie Falcon 



Probably none but the few elect would enjoy a rhapsody on color 

 variation in Falcons' eggs, and the non-elect would raise holy hands of 

 horror over the thwarted hopes of these feathered brigands. So be it, 

 then, and suffice to say that neither Brooks nor Fuertes can paint a bird 

 with such bewitching grace as Nature herself displays in the lawless 

 tinting of a Falcon's egg. She (yarium et mutabile semper femina) dips 

 her brush in oorhodeine and she feathers and stipples or twirls and 

 scumbles, or as suddenly ceases, until the hearts of her poor votaries are 

 seized with an exquisite pain — but those dear woes we may not voice. 



In spite of the fact that the Prairie Falcon is really one of the com- 

 monest Raptors in the West, its discovery within the United States was 

 not reported till 1853, ■ and it long remained a rare and little-known 

 bird. Coues in 1 874.2 confessed to having seen but one of them; and a 

 set of eggs taken in i860 by Dr. Hayden, in the Wind River Mountains 

 of Wyoming, was for some years unique. In this respect the history 

 of the Prairie Falcon shows analogy to that of certain sea-fowl. Birds 

 that have been known vaguely for years as inhabitants of the open ocean 

 may not be fully known until their breeding haunts are discovered, — 

 until they are anchored, as it were, to land by the strong chains of the 

 reproductive instinct. The Prairie Falcon is likewise a dweller of the 

 blue serene. The level prairies and the rolling hills are his ocean, and he 

 is a bold corsair, snatching his prey at will from the crested billow (of 

 soil) and caring nothing for the clumsy men-of-war, save to spurn them. 

 But when spring comes on then he must seek some frowning cliff which 

 fronts the prairie wave ; and then he must place himself and those dearer 

 than self at the mercy of the curious public, whether friendly or hostile. 



1 Cassin. Birds of California and Texas. I., p. 88, pi. 16. 

 - Birds of the Northwest (1874), p. 346. 



Taken in San Luis Obispo County Photo by the Author 



LEAVING THE COUNTRY r6 y - 



