576 REPTILES AND BIRDS, 
very well. Buffon reared one which became tolerably familiar, but 
never showed the least affection for those who tended it. 
Falcons properly so called (from fa/x, a reaping-hook) are marvel- 
lously organised for rapine, and realise the ideal of a bird of prey. 
They have a short bill, bent from the base, with a very strong tooth 
on each side of the upper mandible, with which an indentation corre- 
sponds in the lower portion. The wings of this bird are long and 
pointed, causing its flight to be at once powerful, rapid, and agile. Its 
tarsi are short, and its claws hooked and sharp. When we add to all 
this a most remarkable power of vision, enormous strength, and un- 
daunted courage, it will easily be understood that these birds inspire 
terror wherever they go. They feed only on living prey—birds or small 
mammals. They always hunt on the wing. They assemble in flocks at 
the time of migration to follow the birds of passage. At other times 
they live in solitary couples, and build their nest, according to the 
locality, in woods, cliffs, holes in quarries, or in ruined habitations, and 
sometimes even in the interior of towns. They lay from two to four eggs. 
We shall divide the falcons into two groups: those that have tails 
longer than their wings, and those which have wings as long and 
sometimes longer than the tail. 
The group of Gyrfalcons or Jerfalcons comprehends the Gy rfalcons 
proper, the Lanner Falcon, and the Peregrine. 
The Egyptians venerated the Falcon, and to this circumstance 
the name of Gyrfalcon must be attributed, as it 1s a corruption of 
hierofalco, or Sacred Falcon. 
The Gyrfalcon (falco gyrfalco, Fig. 265) is the most powerful of 
the Falcon tribe. In strength, although hardly two feet in height, it 
rivals the Eagle itself. Its colour varies with its age. When young it 
is of a beautiful brown tint, but becomes almost white with age. It 
inhabits the Arctic regions, where it feeds on large birds, principally 
Gallinaceze or Palmipedes. 
Three varieties of this species are hewi all very similar to each 
other: the White Falcon, called by Buffon the White Gyrfalcon of the 
North, which inhabits the extreme north of the two continents ; the 
Falco islandicus, or Gyrfalcon of Iceland, peculiar to that country ; 
and the Gyrfalcon of Norway, which is found in Scandinavia, and 
sometimes appears in Germany, Holland, and France. 
The first two of these are very docile, and consequently were 
eagerlysought after by falconers, who used them for pursuing the Heron, 
Crane, and Stork. An ancient Danish law, which was repealed in 
1758, forbade, under pain of death, the destruction of these birds. 
The Lanner Falcon (Falco lanarius, Fig. 266) is about the same size 
