FALCONS. 79 
The Honey-Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) (988) is a regular summer- 
visitor to Great Britain, and a few pairs still breed where they are 
afforded protection. Anderson’s Pern (Macherhamphus anderssoni) 
(939), an allied African form also shown, is a very rare bird with 
crepuscular habits and feeds, partly at least, on bats. 
The Falcons [ Falconine | are characterised by their short powerful bill, 
which is provided with a tooth-like process on each side of the upper 
mandible. This sub-family includes the most typical raptorial birds, such 
as the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) (961) | Pl. XVI. | and its allies, 
in which the compactly built body is formed so as to combine the 
maximum of strength with the greatest possible speed on the wing. At 
the foot of the Case are placed the Jer-Falcons (Hierofalco), which 
include some of the largest species, inhabiting the colder parts of the 
Northern Hemisphere. The most beautiful of these noble birds is un- 
doubtedly the nearly white Greenland form (H. candicans) (942), which, 
like its allies the Iceland and Scandinavian Jer-Falcons (H. islandus (944) 
[P]. XXV.] and H. gyrfalco (945) ), occasionally visits Great Britain. 
Jer-Falcons were formerly held in high esteem by falconers for, 
though less bold than the Peregrine, their greater strength enables 
them to take quarry for which the Peregrine isno match. In the latter 
bird, various races of which are distributed over the Old and New Worlds, 
we have the most highly specialised Bird of Prey and the one most 
highly prized in Falconry at the present time. Besides the Common 
Peregrine a fine example of the Shahin (F. peregrinator) (950), a darker- 
coloured Indian form, may be seen as well as the Lanner, Barbary, and 
Laggar Falcons (F. feldeggi, F. barbarus, and F. jugger) (947, 948, 949). 
Among the smaller Falcons will be found the Hobby (F. subbuteo) 
(952), and the Merlin (F. esalon) (958), both well-known British species, 
and the Red-headed Merlin (F. chiguera) (954), avery handsome 
Indian species. 
The Black-legged Falconet (Microhierax cerulescens) (956) represents 
a group of diminutive Falcons inhabiting the Indo-Malayan region. 
In spite of their small size they are bold and dashing in their habits, 
and besides insects, capture birds as large as Quails. The allied genus 
Poliohierax, represented by Feilden’s Falcon (957), is remarkable among 
birds of this group in having the sexes entirely different in plumage, 
the back of the female being dark chestnut. The Kestrels (Cerchneis), a 
somewhat numerous genus, are represented by the common species 
(C. tinnunculus) (958), plentiful in the British Isles and valuable to 
the farmer as a destroyer of mice, voles, and insects, and by the Lesser 
Kestrel (C. naumanni) (959), which appears on the British List as an 
occasional visitor from Southern Europe. In the Red-footed Falcon 
(Erythropus vespertinus) (962), as in the true Kestrels, the sexes differ 
[Case 53.) 
[Case 53. | 
