FALCONS. 309 



very sharp and much curved ; the tail short and of stiff feathers, while the wings are 

 long and very sharply pointed, almost straight, and very slightly convex. 



The number of species varies with different authors from twenty-five to seventy- 

 five, depending partly on the status allowed the numerous geographical races, and 

 partly on the personal equation of the author. Probably most systematists would be 

 content with less than fifty. 



Taking the peregrine-falcon, Falco peregrinus, as the type of the genus Falco, and 

 this genus as the typical one of the group, the principal outliers are the genera Baza, 

 Harpagus, Hierax, and JEReracidea. 



There seems to be a tendency all through the diurnal Accipitres to a lengthening 

 of the feathers of the back of the head, and nearly every group contains some species 

 in which this is more positively expressed in a crest. Even the goshawk, Astur 

 palumbarius, shows such a tendency, especially when young; and now in the highest 

 group, the Falccninas, we find several species gathered into the genus Baza, which 

 are conspicuous, in addition to their striking colors and double-toothed bill, for a long 

 and beautiful crest. As an example of this beautiful genus, we may take the crested 

 falcon, Baza lopliotes, a native of India and Ceylon. The general color above, includ- 

 ing the crest and tail, is glossy, greenish black ; the wings partake also of this color, 

 but are much variegated with white and chestnut; the upper neck and throat are 

 deep black, while the lower neck, breast, and abdomen are creamy white, with broad 

 crossbars of rich chestnut. With this genus are often associated the very similar 

 kite-falcons, Avicida, of Africa. 



The South American notched-falcon, Harpayus bidentatus, probably also belongs 

 here. It is a crestless form, with double-notched bill (more strongly so than Baza}, 

 and inhabits the wooded regions of tropical South America. The colors of the adult 

 are slaty blue above, rich chestnut below ; the throat white, with a broad median line 

 of dull black. 



The tiny finch-falcons, Hierax, of the East Indies are, from their small size, among 

 the most marvellous of the falcons. Though only five and one half to six and one 

 half inches in length, they have all the spirit of the larger falcons, and feed largely if 

 not entirely on birds and small mammals. One of the commonest, the Bengal falcon, 

 Hierax ccendescens, bluish black above and rusty white below, has been seen at a 

 single foray to strike ten or a dozen quail before alighting. Two or three species 

 from the East Indies are described, and another from the Philippine Islands, but they 

 are probably not all tenable. 



The sparrow-hawk or quail-hawk of New Zealand, Ilieracidea novce-zealandice, is 

 a larger species, which, according to Professor Newton, may represent the more 

 generalized and ancestral type from which both kestrels and falcons have descended. 

 Spiziapteryx circumcinctus, of the Argentine Republic, is another genuine falcon of 

 small size. 



We now come to the genus Falco, with the peregrine or duck hawk, Falco pere- 

 grinus, as its type. Not less than a dozen different races of this bird have been 

 recognized, and most of them described as species, but recent writers incline to the 

 belief that there is but one valid species, which is almost cosmopolitan. Says Pro- 

 fessor Newton of this species : 



"From Port Kennedy, the most northern part of the American continent, to 

 Tasmania, and from the shores of the Sea of Ochotsk to Mcndoza in the Argentine 

 Republic, there is scarcely a country in which this falcon has not been found. Speci- 



