May., 1902. 
THE CONDOR 
57 
about overhead continually, ever ready 
to pounce down on some unprotected 
cormorant’s nest. We observed one 
Baird cormorant that was scared from 
its nest. No sooner had she gone than 
two gulls pounced down upon the va- 
cated eggs, and while one of the rob- 
bers pierced two and devoured the con- 
tents, the other gull picked up the re- 
maining egg in its bill and flew off to 
the adjacent rock. 
There were a few pigeon guillemots 
(Cepphiis cohimba) about the rocks, but 
not very many were found breeding 
there. We noticed a number of pairs of 
black oyster-catchers about the rocks, 
but were only able to locate one nest. 
The birds were flying back and forth 
continually uttering their whistling call. 
The nest of this species that was 
found was on the south side of the 
rock, on a little slope where the fine 
pieces of rock had fallen down from 
above. The three eggs were placed 
without the least sign of a nest, two of 
them w'ere near together while the 
other was about eight or ten inches be- 
low. All of the eggs were pipped and 
just about ready to hatch in the warm 
sun. The parent birds were flying 
about the rock but did not come near 
the eggs. 
Berkeley, Cal. 
Nesting of the Prairie Falcon. 
liY O. W. HOWARD, DOS ANGEDES, C.\I,. 
E arly during the spring of last 
year while doing some develop- 
ment work on one of my min- 
ing claims in the Huachuca Moun- 
tains in Cochise Co., Arizona, my atten- 
tion was often attracted by the screaming 
of a pair of prairie falcons {Falco niex- 
IcaHus). The sounds seemed to come 
from a tall cliff near the crest of a high 
ridge on the opposite side of the canyon 
in which we were working, and al- 
though the distance was too great to 
watch the birds I felt certain they were 
nesting on the cliff. When the birds 
had been in the vicinity for several 
weeks I felt sure it was time for a full 
set of eggs, so my partner and I made a 
trip up to the cliff to look for the nest. 
When we were within a few hundred 
feet of the cliff we were greeted by a 
sudden screaming, and on looking up 
saw three prairie falcons in an aerial 
combat. 
Their flight was very swift and grace- 
ful; undoubtedly two of the birds were 
the pair nesting in the cliff and the 
other an intruder. One bird of the pair 
was following in close pursuit of the 
enemy while its mate would ascend high 
into the air and with folded wings drop 
like a falling stone and at the same time 
utter a shrill scream. Just at the second 
one would naturally expect to see the 
enemy dashed to pieces, a slight turn of 
the tail would carry him to one side and 
the would-be assassin would dart harm- 
lessly by like a flash. 
We watched the performance until 
the birds had passed out of sight. The 
rest of the way to the cliff was a hard 
climb through the thick oak brush and 
over large, jagged rocks. When we 
reached the cliff two of the falcons had 
returned and were flying about in their 
usual manner with quick fluttering 
wings, occasionally uttering their pecu- 
liar scream. When we had watched 
the birds a few minutes one of them, 
presumably the female, flew to a cavity 
about half v/ay up the face of the cliff 
and disappeared. This I felt sure was 
the nest, as the male bird lit on a sharp 
projection of the cliff not far off. I had 
forty or fifty feet of small rope with me 
but not enough to do any good so I de- 
cided to let the matter rest until I could 
obtain a longer and thicker rope. 
Before leaving the cliff, however, we 
looked around to see what else we 
could find; there were several turkey 
vultures sailing back and forth, also a 
golden eagle was seen and a pair of 
