150 FALCO. 



maries ten ; one or two of the outer abruptly cut out on 

 the inner web towards the end ; secondaries generally 

 thirteen, rather long, broad, rounded. Tail long, broad, 

 rounded, of twelve broad feathers. 



The genus Falco is composed of birds of moderate, 

 or rather small size, eminently adapted for rapine. 

 The larger species prey upon quadrupeds and birds of 

 a size comparatively large, and even sometimes exceed- 

 ing their own ; others feed upon smaller quadrupeds 

 and birds ; and the species of smallest bulk upon mice, 

 small passerine birds, and even insects, especially co- 

 leoptera. Of compact form, muscular, and furnished 

 with large and pointed wings, with a broad and power- 

 ful tail, they possess the means of moving through the 

 air with a rapidity and precision, if not superior to, yet. 

 perhaps not excelled by, those of any other group of 

 rapacious birds. It is not the mere length of wing, 

 however, nor yet its pointed form, that give them this 

 superiority, but their muscular energy acting upon fit- 

 ting organs. The birds of the genus Accipiter, which 

 have wings of a different form, and are generally less 

 robust, ai-e equally rapid in their motions. The species 

 which occur in Britain being in every respect as cha- 

 racteristic and " typical,*' to use a phrase continually in 

 the mouths of the ornithologists of the penta-cyclogra- 

 phic school, as any that could be named, it is unneces- 

 sary for me to select examples from any other region. 

 The Iceland Falcon, or Gyr Falcon, which Cuvier has 

 severed from the rest, to form of it a subgenus, is not 

 sufficiently separated from the Peregrine and others by 

 any peculiarity of form to merit such a distinction; and 



