The Pigeon Hawks 



crossed by numerous interrupted bars of whitish and tawny, the latter tipped with 

 white and crossed with five prominent white bars; flight-feathers and tertials also tipped 

 with white or grayish; underparts chiefly cream-buff as to ground, but white, immacu- 

 late, on throat; jugulum finely pencilled and breast heavily streaked with sepia (each 

 streak with darker shaft-line); sides and flanks still more broadly marked, or else 

 sepia spotted with whitish; flags and posterior underparts sparsely pencilled with sepia 

 or unmarked centrally; lores and a faintly defined superciliary buffy; forehead buffy 

 white sharply streaked with black; sides of head and neck, forming transitional area, 

 finely streaked buffy, rusty, sepia, and whitish in varying proportions. Adult female: 

 "Differing in coloration from the male only in points of detail. Ground color of the 

 upperparts clear grayish drab, the feathers with conspicuously black shafts; all the 

 feathers with pairs of rather indistinct rounded ochraceous spots, these most conspic- 

 uous on the wings and scapulars. Secondaries crossed with three bands of deeper, 

 more reddish, ochraceous. Bands of the tail pure white. In other respects exactly 

 like male" (Ridgway). Young birds are said to be more extensively rusty above, with 

 broader and more reddish tail-bands, and to be unmarked on lower tail-coverts and 

 crissum. Length 304.8-355.6 (12.00-14.00). Measurements of male: wing 195.6 

 (7.70); tail 127 (5.00); bill 12.7 (.50); tarsus 33 (1.30). Female: wing 228.6 (9.00); 

 tail 154.9 (6- 10); bill 14 (.55); tarsus 35.6 (1.40). 



Recognition Marks. — Little hawk size; brownish cast of plumage above; 

 heavy ochraceous spotting of wing (much more extensive than in Pigeon Hawk); 

 tail crossed by six bands (including the terminal band). 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: In cavity of tree or crevice 

 of cliff; rarely of twigs in treetop. Eggs: 3 to 5; basally white or creamy buffj heavily 

 sprinkled, spotted, and blotched with shades of cinnamon and rich chocolate. Eggs: 

 Sometimes an exact miniature of those of F. peregrinus. Av. size 40.6 x 31.5 (1.60 

 x 1.24). Season: May; one brood. 



Range of F. c. richardsoni. — Breeds in the Great Plains region from North Dakota 

 and Montana to southern Alberta and central Saskatchewan. Occurs broadly during 

 migrations, casually to the Pacific Coast; and winters south to Texas, Sonora and Lower 

 California. 



Occurrence in California. — Rare visitor in winter; three records: Kern County, 

 Los Angeles County, and San Diego County. 



Authorities. — Henshaw (Falco columbarius, var. richardsoni), Rep. Orn. 

 Wheeler Surv., 1876, p. 262 (Walker Basin, Kern Co.); Daggett, Condor, vol. vii., 1905, 

 p. 82 (San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Co.); Bishop, Condor, vol. vii., 1905, p. 142 

 (Witch Creek, San Diego Co.); Tyler, Condor, vol. xviii., 1916, p. 197 (Mendota, 

 Madera Co.). 



IF THE Northern Pigeon Hawk is a "collector's bird," the Richard- 

 son Merlin is a collector's prize. Indeed, most of the Pigeon Hawks 

 which are annually taken by collectors are shot in the hope that they may 

 prove to be the rare richardsoni. There is nothing to say of the bird's 

 behavior which would serve to distinguish it from the commoner species; 

 and only the expert might guess that it was perhaps a little lighter in 

 color. 



