ACCIPITKES. 233 



F. candicans diud F. islandicus, Gm.; Buff. Enl. 210, 456, 462; 

 Naum. 21, 22. (The Gerfalcon.) One fourth larger than the 

 Falcon, and the most highly esteemed by falconers. It is chiefly 

 obtained from the north 5 its usual plumage is brown above, 

 with an edging of paler points on each feather, and transverse 

 lines on the coverts and quills j the tail is striped brown and 

 greyish; but it so varies in the proportion of the brown and 

 white, that the body of some of them is altogether white, and 

 all that remains of the brown is a spot on the middle of each 

 feather of the mantle; the feet and the membrane of the beak 

 are sometimes yellow, sometimes blue.(l) 

 The second section of the great genus Falco is that of the 



IGNOBLE BIRDS OF PREY. 



So called, because they cannot be easily employed in falconry; a tribe 

 much more numerous than that of the Nobles, and which it is also 

 necessary to subdivide considerably. The fourth quill of their 

 wings is almost always the longest, and the first is very short, which 

 produces the same effect as if their wing had been obliquely trun- 

 cated at the tip, whence, coeteris paribus, result diminished powers 

 of flight; their beak also is not so well armed, there being no lateral 

 tooth near its point, but a mere slight emargination about the middle 

 of its length. 



AquiLA, Briss. 



The Eagles, which constitute the first tribe, have a very strong beak, 

 straight at base and only curved towards the point. Among them 

 we find the largest species of the genus, and the most powerful of all 

 the birds of prey. 



AquiLA, Cuv. 



Eagles, properly so called, have the tarsi feathered down to the root 

 of the toes; they inhabit mountains, and pursue Birds arid Quadru- 

 peds; their wings are as long as the tail, their flight as high as it is 

 swift, and their courage superior to that of all other Birds. 



F. fulvus, F. melanaetos, F. niger, Gm.;(2) Enl. 409; Naum. 



(1) Add as a foreign species, the Cinereous Gerfalcon, {R atricapillus,) Wils. VI, 

 lii, 3, of which the Cinereous Buzzard, Edw. 53, {F. cinereus, Gm,;) is possibly a 

 young specimen. 



(2) The real species is well represented, Enl. 409; it is Falc. fulvus. At certain 

 stages of moulting, the white at the base of the feathers may be seen ; it then 

 forms the F. fulvus canadensis, Edw. I. As to the F. melanaetos, it is merely 

 based upon some vague indications of the ancients, and the same only is quoted 



Vol. I. 2 E 



