.--Over most of Tropical America, the Laughing Falcon [Herpetotheres cachinnans (Linn.) ] is not uncommon, although much bet- ter known through voice and reputation than by sight to the average human in- habitant of its territory. It figures prominently in native folklore and superstition and is regarded as a bird of many accomplishments, the most universally known of which is the ability to forecast rain. Field ornithologists, too, have always been impressed with the personality of this remarkable falcon but, in spite of such widespread and varied interest, nothing authentic seems to have been put on record regarding its nesting. The statement of the Penards in their 'De vogels van Guyana' that it builds a nest of twigs in trees and has two young was admittedly based on reports of Indians, as was probably that of Schomburgk, as quoted by Chubb in his 'Birds of British Guiana,' to similar effect. In May, 1941, Sheflier visited Guirocoba in extreme southeastern Sonora, Mexico, a locality which, in recent years, has gained some prominence as the headquarters from which naturalists in many fields have explored the surrounding country. By the most extraordinary good fortune, three nests were located, all within a mile or two of the ranch house. The field account of these nests is transcribed below. Preliminary to the notes it may be said that the valley of Guirocoba is roughly and irregularly oval, perhaps four or five miles by two. Most of it was at one time under intensive cultivation but now has largely reverted to mesquite thickets and weeds. A permanent stream, beautifully bordered by giant native cypresses or Sabinos is fed by seepage and trickles from wooded carlons in the surrounding mountains and escarpments. It is near the upper limit of the Arid Tropical Zone at an elevation of about 1500 feet, and the primitive cover, aside from the ubiquitous mesquite and giant cactus, is a thin decidous forest of low average height. "May 10, 1941 . . . One of the boys returned saying that he had found a 'Huaco' but no nest, and would like to borrow my gun . . . In an hour he was back with the bird [and] said that he had now found the nest near where he had shot it, as the mate had flown off when he had shot this one, which was a male. In the meantime another boy came about a second nest. We first visited the site where the male had been killed and a natural hole in the perpendicular wall of the cation was pointed out as the nest. This was reached from above without too much difficulty. Back in this pothole about one foot from the entrance was a depression in a very large pile of leaves, those in the depression being green or nearly so. In the depression was one white egg, in appearance like a typical owl egg about the size of a spotted owl's. No bird was seen although the male had been shot within a very few feet of the nest. This cation is dark and very heavily wooded, and although the nest cavity is on the straight cation wall it is so dark and gloomy here and the wall itself [so covered] with orchids and other clinging plants [that] the site is very difficult to see .... ]Left with the other boy for nest site number two, [which] is about one and one-half miles south of number one. Cation about the same as the first although not quite so well wooded. Nest site within seventy-five yards of a well travelled trail . . . and impossible to get to without lots of rope. Bird flushed from the nest site and was collected,-- . . . a female which had long been incubating. "May 11, 1941. ]Left early for nest number two. Nest a deep depression in lots of leaves [those in the depression green as before]. Contents one very young and very hungry Huaco . . . probably not over four or five days old. "May 12, 1941. Visited number three nest today. Not much luck, for although two Huacos were seen in this dark cation it was not possible to get within gun range. Nest located similar to numbers one and two and about one mile north- west of number one. Nesting material same [but] nest cavity larger and nest of loose leaves much farther back from the entrance. Nest contained a single egg ß . . with incubation almost completed. The nest was forty feet from the cation floor and ten feet from the top of the cliff. "The McCarty sisters say that although they have seen this bird several times over a period of almost twenty years, yet they have rarely seen it more than once or twice in any one year .... usually when the rainy season starts about the twentieth of June. At that time they laugh and play in the very tops of the great Sabino trees in the evening before the rain. They saw five playing at one time. There is said to be an old Indian drinking song called 'The Laugh of the Huaco.' The Mexicans call them Rain Crows." An attempt to keep the young bird alive was without success and it was prepared as a specimen. Colors of the soft parts were as follows, all of them except the bill and claws from a Kodachrome film and not from the living bird: Iris, dark brown; bill, black, with base and cere putty color; tarsi and feet, grayish blue; claws, black. There is no color plate in Ridgway's 'Color Standards and Color Nomenclature,' 1912, which matches the rather uniform body color of this chick. It may be de- scribed as immaculate, light brownish buff, perhaps nearest to pale 'Clay Color,' distinctly paler on the chin and throat and deepening gradually to between 'Clay Color' and 'Sayal Brown' on the crown, back, and wings. The outstanding feature is the black facial mask and collar around the nape, precisely as in the adult ex- cept that there is no white spot on the lower eyelid. The down is very soft and dense and exceeds in this respect any downy hawk with which we are acquainted; in fact it compares favorably with a newly hatched duckling. The eggs, as before noted, resemble those of an owl. They are bluntly 'Rounded Ovate,' pure white, and rather smooth in shell texture. Measurements of the two collected are 44.2 x 37.6, and 43.5 x 37.7 mm. Selection of natural cavities in cliffs as nesting sites in a district where they are abundantly available, together with the peculiar nest which, in each of the three instances, consisted only of a mass of detached leaves, naturally leads to speculation as to the choice of sites and type of nest construction employed in forest areas where cliffs are non-existent.--W. J. SHEFFLER AND A. j. VAN ROSSEM, 473 z Angeles Vista and Dickey Collections, University of California, Los Angeles, California.