The Peregrine Falcon 



marvelously fast that even the ducks have 

 not a chance to escape, unless there is 

 some pond or slough near by into which 

 they can dive. The writer remembers 

 standing, with several companions, on 

 the shore of Summit Lake one late Octo- 

 ber day, when, upon hearing a sound like 

 a heavy wind blowing through the tules, 

 we turned and saw a duck plunge into 

 the lake from a height of not less than 

 six hundred feet. The splash of the im- 

 pact resembled the report of a revolver. 

 'Bullet-hawk,' called one of the men, and 

 looking up we saw one of these long- 

 winged pirates making off for a new field. 



"At another time we noticed a small 

 flock of teal winging their way toward 

 us, with a black speck fully a quarter 

 of a mile in their wake and slightly above 

 them. The flight of the ducks, rapid as 

 it was, seemed slow in contrast to that of 

 the hawk. The latter was almost upon 

 the unsuspecting birds in an incredibly 

 short time. Suddenly the ducks scattered 

 and half a dozen teal fell with cries of fear 

 into the water almost at our feet. Had 

 there been no water directly under them 

 at the moment the hawk was seen, there is no doubt that at least one 

 duck would have been captured. A friend tells of seeing a Duck Hawk 

 dash at a lone goose that was flying over, striking it head-on with such force 

 that it fell within a few feet of the observer. Besides a broken wing the bird 

 seemed to have suffered otherwise to a great extent, for it soon expired." 



For a nesting site the Falcon chooses an inaccessible cranny in some 

 commanding cliff. In default of shelter, an exposed ledge midway of some 

 sheer precipice will do as well. The southern coast ranges offer a con- 

 siderable variety of rounded pockets or lens-shaped cavities, left either 

 by the defection of a nodule, or else by the evanescence of some frail sub- 

 stance once resident in the old sandstone. These chambers are naturally 

 lined with clean dry sand, and they afford ideal homes for Falcon or Condor. 

 The birds exhibit a deep attachment for a given locality, and although 

 they may shift from niche to niche, they will not desert their chosen cliff 

 for anything short of gun-fire. Mr. Clarence S. Sharp mentions 1 a pair 



Taken in Washington Photo by the Author 



A PAIR OF PEALE FALCONS 



THESE REPRESENT A DARKER RACE OF THE PERE- 

 GRINE FALCON TYPE 



1 Condor. Vol. IX.. May, 1907. p. 86. 



162/ 



