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Volume VII 
MarcK-A.pril 1905 
Number 2 
A Note on the Prairie Falcon 
BY LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES 
WITH A DRAWING BY THE AUTHOR 
A FTER a month or more in the field in California, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 
Frank M. Chapman, W. W. Price and myself reached Pyramid Fake, Ne- 
vada, on the desert side of the Sierras, about July 8, 1903, whither we went 
to make a study of the great white pelican rookery. But whether pelicans, 
Pahiutes, or prairie falcons interested us most it would be hard to tell — and cer- 
tainly the splendid Pyramid Fake trout was not least among the attractions 
of the region. 
The central part of the island adopted by the pelicans for their colony rises 
some four hundred feet, in the form of a great concretion, sloping steeply on the 
north, and precipitous and cliffy on the south. The lower “bench,” by far the 
greater part of the island’s area, was occupied by the pelicans, but the castellated 
dome in the center was usurped and tenaciously held by a pair of prairie falcons 
and their three grown young, and the bird from which this study was made was 
killed (almost in self-defence) well toward the crest on the cliff-like southern ac- 
clivity. All about this point, which I took to be near the eyry, were strewn the 
feathers of quails and jays, which must have been carried from the mainland, no- 
where less than a mile and a half distant. 
As I looked down from my position at a height on the wall like face of the 
cliff, the yellow rock merged into the chalky levels below, where the huddling 
herds of young pecilans crowded together; then came the white alkali beach, 
which lost itself in the wonderful blue of Pyramid Fake — the most glorious color 
water ever had. And against this marvellous color, the blistering sun gleaming 
on their broad snowy backs and wings, the old pelicans soared magnificently be- 
low me, while the falcons screamed in the clear air around my head. I think this 
was one of the most striking experiences I ever had, and I stood a long time im- 
bibing the varied new sensations of sound and color before I at last turned my 
steps downward to join the ‘census bureau’ on the lower levels, where Dr. Mer- 
