FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 
1C7 
the Pacific, and from the Dakotas south to Mexico; casually to Illinois. 
Breeds throughout its United States range. 
Nest. — Usually on ledges of rocky cliffs. Eggs : 3 to 5, usually creamy 
white, blotched and spotted with reddish brown, spots sometimes covering 
whole surface. 
Food. — Birds, mammals, reptiles, and the larger insects. 
Over the western plains and sagebrush desert country one often 
sees a small, trimly-built, sharp-winged hawk dashing about in the 
air, and on scanning the’rugged cliffs discerns a white streak high 
on the rock wall and with a field glass a niche above in which per¬ 
haps the edge of a nest or the heads of young may be seen. Some¬ 
times you will hear the high-pitched call, kee , kee, kee, as the old 
birds circle around above their aerie. As they hover about the cliffs 
their neat forms and quick, hard wing beats are so characteristic 
that they could be mistaken for no other bird, unless perhaps the 
duck hawk. Their nests are usually placed in the most inaccessible 
parts of high cliffs, and the birds are closely associated with many of 
the grandest western landscapes. 
The falcons are bold freebooters when a farmyard happens to lie 
in the valley below and their hungry young are calling, but ordi¬ 
narily ground squirrels and other small rodents supply most of their 
food. The few birds they get are mostly caught on the wing. One 
that shot past me in pursuit of a flock of Gambel quails in southern 
Utah struck a quail from the flock with such force as to knock it 
to the ground amid a cloud of feathers, but fortunately for the 
quail it landed in the brush, where it escaped. Vernon Bailey. 
Subgenus Rhynchodon. 
Tarsus only slightly feathered in front, 
broadly bare behind; not longer than 
middle toe without claw. 
356. Falco peregrinus anatum 
( Bonap .). Duck Hawk. 
Adults. — Sides of head and neck black, 
in striking contrast to white or huffy of 
throat and breast; rest of under parts 
deeper colored and spotted or barred 
with blackish ; top of head sooty black , 
rest of upper parts slaty blue , lighter on 
rump, indistinctly barred with dusky ; 
wing quills blackish, inner webs of quills 
spotted regularly with buffy or yellow¬ 
ish brown; tail blackish, crossed by S to 
10 light grayish bars, and with narrow 
white tip. Young : under parts yellowish 
brown or reddish brown, heavily streaked 
with dark brown ; upper parts blackish, 
feathers edged with rusty; tail spotted 
From Biological Survey-, U. S. Dept, of 
Agriculture. 
Fig. 236. 
