232 AVES. 



ash coloured. The name is derived from its shrill cry ; builds 

 in old towers, 8cc. 



F. cenchris, Frisch and Naum.; F. tinnunculoides, Schintz and 

 Temm.j Naum. 29; Frisch, 89. (The Little Kestrel.) Immac- 

 ulate above J otherwise similar to the Kestrel j wings rather 

 longer, and talons white. This species, long confounded with 

 the preceding, prefers the south of Europe. 



F. rujipes, Beseke; F. vespertinus, Gm.; Enl. 431; Naum. 28. 

 (The Grey Kestrel.) The male is of a deep ash colour ; the 

 thighs and inferior part of the abdomen red j the back of the 

 female ash coloured, spotted with black ; the head, and all be- 

 neath, more or less red. Still smaller than the preceding ; 

 most common in eastern Europe, common, also, in Siberia 

 rare in Germany and France.(l) 



HiEROFALCO, CUV.(2) 



The Gerfalcons have wing quills similar to those of the other noble 

 birds, which they perfectly resemble in disposition ; but their beak 

 has only an emargination like that of the ignoble ones;(3) their long 

 and displayed tail extends considerably beyond their wings, although 

 the latter are very long ; the superior third of their tarsi, which are 

 short and reticulated, is furnished with feathers. Only one species 

 is well known. 



(1) Of foreign species add, 1st, allied to the Kestrel : Le Montagnard, Vaill. 35 

 [F. capensis, Sh.). F. sparverius, Enl. 465, Wils. II. xvi, 1, and IV, xxxii, 2, and 

 two or three species, whose wings, otherwise similar to the noble birds of prey as 

 to the relative proportion of the feathers, are shorter than the tail ; such as the 

 F. pundatus, Cuv. Col. 45. F. columbarius, "Wils. II, xv, 3. 



2d. Alhed to the Hobby : F. cxrukscens , Edw. 108, Vieill. Gal. 18, and Col. 97, 

 hardly larger than a swallow; jP. aurantius, Lath., rufogularis, Ejd., thoracicus, 

 lllig. Col. 348 ; F. bidentatus. Lath., or Bidens rujiventer, Spix. VI, which is dis- 

 tinguished by a double tooth in its beak, Col. 38, and the young. Col. 358, or Bid. 

 albiventer, Spix. VII, but with the wings too short ; F. diodon, Col. 198 ; F. fe- 

 moralis, Temm. Col. 121 and 343, and Spix. VILI ; F. Aldovandii, Reinw. Col. 

 128. 



3d. Allied to the True Falcon: the Chiquera, Vaill. Afric. 30 {F. chiquera, Sh.); 

 F. biarmicus, T. Col. 324; the F. hupp^ [F. frontalis, BsiUd., F. galericulatus, 

 Sh.), Vaill. Afric. 28 ; the F. huppart, T. {F. lophoies, Cuv.) Enl. 10 ; the F. 

 a culotte noire, Vaill. 29 {F. tibialis, Sh.). 



(2) Hierax, Hiero-fulco, Sacred Falcon, &c. names connected with the supersti- 

 tions of the Egyptians respecting cei'tain birds of prey. Gerfalcon is a corruption 

 of Hitro-falco. ' 



(3) Nauman, I, p. 278, asserts that it is the falconers who round the tooth of the 

 beak in the Gerfalcons. In that case, and with the bare exception of their long 

 tail, they would re-enter the catalogue of the other Falcons, and the Lanner should 

 be associated with them. 



