608 EAPTOEES, OR BIRDS OF PREY. 



feet in height, and its spread of wings is five feet. It is very 

 common all over Europe, and is only too well known to the 

 villagers on whose poultry-yards it frequently leaves heavy tax. 

 It also feeds on moles, field-mice, reptiles, adders, and sometimes 

 insects. It bears captivity very well. Buffon reared one which 

 became tolerably familiar, but never showed the least affection for 

 those who tended it. 



Falcons (iYovcifalx, a reaping-hook) are marvellously 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 

 corresponds 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 penetrating vision and enormous 

 strength, it will easily be understood that these birds inspire 

 terror wherever they go. They feed only on living prey — birds or 

 small mammals — which they often instantaneously kill and carry 

 off to eat elsewhere. 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 Falcon genus into two groups : Gyr- 

 falcons, characterised by tails longer than their wings; and Falcons 

 proper, which have the wings as long, and sometimes longer, than 

 the tail. 



The grouj) of Gyrfalcons, or Jerfalcons, comprehends the Gyr- 

 falcon proper, theLanner Falcon {Falco lannarius), and the Sacred 

 Falcon. 



The Egyptians venerated the Falcon, and to this circvimstance 

 the name of Gyrfalcon must be attributed, as it is a corruption of 

 Hierofalco, or Sacred Falcon. 



The Gyrfalcon is the best-proportioned and most active member 

 of the Falcon tribe. In strength it even rivals the Eagle itself, 

 although it is hardly two feet in height. Its colour varies with its 

 age. When young it is of a beautiful brown tint, but becomes 



