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BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
Falco rusticolus. Gvkfalcox. 354. 
There are thought to De four varieties in boreal America, which 
sometimes visit the states in winter. Three of them have been taken 
in New England. They vary in color from black to white, but may 
always be identified by their large size — they are about two feet long 
— and the distinctly toothed cutting-edge of the upper mandible. A 
Black Gyrfalcon, sub-species obsolehis, was killed nearMilford in 1S91, 
and mounted by Mr. James P. Melzer of that town. 
Falco peregrinus anatum. Dlck Hawk. 356. 
The Duck Hawk is not rare in the wilder portions of New Hamp- 
shire, and presumably occurs here at irregular intervals. 
Scotiaptex cinerea. Great Gray Owl. 370. 
This is a rare straggler from the Arctic regions in v.inter. It is 
larger than the Great Horned Owl and has no ear tufts. 
Order PICI. 
Picoides americanus. American Three-toed Wood- 
pecker. 401. 
This species, otherwise known as the White-backed, or Ladder- 
backed Three-toed Woodpecker, has been taken at Webster, X. H., 
and Lynn, Mass. 
Order PASSERES. 
Quiscalus quiscula. Purple Grackle. 511. 
I take pleasure in recording here the occurrence of this bird at Til- 
ton, this state. September 13, 1902. At the solicitation of a farmer 
whose corn was suffering from the depredations of a large flock of 
grackles, I undertook to repulse the enemy. I was successful. They 
left nine dead and did not return. Out of nine there were two that were 
unmistakably of this form. The skin of one is Xo. 13.446 of the 
Field Columbian Museum at Chicago: the other is in my possession. 
I believe this to be the first record of the occurrence of this grackle in 
Xew Hampshire. Its normal range is from southern Massachusetts 
southward east of the AUeghanies. As evidence that blackbirds some- 
times move northward during the interim between their seggregation 
and final southward movement, this capture is of especial interest. 
