Family FALCON I D^, The Falcons. 

 Sub-Family FALCONING. 

 FALCO, LiNN.Kus. 



Gen. Char. — General form robust and compact ; bill short, curved strongly from llie base 

 to the point, which is very sharp, and near which is a distinct and generally prominent tooth ; 

 nostrils circular, with a central tubercle ; wings long, pointed, formed for vigorous, rapid, and long- 

 continued flight ; tail rather long and wide ; tarii short, robust, covered with circular or hexagoral 

 scales ; middle toe long ; claws large, strong, curved, and very sharp. 



The species constituting this genus are justly regarded by 

 Ornithologists as the typical or most completely organized of 

 rapacious birds. They are remarkable for exceedingly rapid flight, 

 and great boldness in the attack and capture of their prey, which 

 consists of birds and quadrupeds often much larger than themselves. 

 They are found in most parts of the world : the number of species 

 being fifteen or twentv. Four or five occur in Canada. 



& 



Falco Anatum, Bonaparte. 



THE DUCK HAWK: PEREGRINE, 

 PLATE I. 



This is the " Falco Peregrinus " of Wilson, Audubon, and 

 other writers, and probably the Falco-nigriceps of Cassin. This 

 beautiful bird is regarded as the most typical species of the " true 

 Falcons," or noble birds of prey. It is nowhere very abundant, 

 although pretty generally distributed over the whole of North 

 America, east of the Rock)- Mountains. It has been observed by 

 travellers, explorers, and Hudson Bay officers on the coasts of 

 Hudson Bay and the Arctic Sea ; on the " Barren Grounds "; at 

 Cape Farewell, on the coast of Greenland ; on the coasts of 

 Labrador, Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, New Brunswick, 

 and Nova Scotia; as also along the sea coasts of Maine, New 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island Sound, New 

 Jersey, and Delaware, along the whole of which sea-board it is 

 celebrated for the havoc it makes among the wild fowl. It has 

 also been noted in East Florida, at St. Augustine, and is well 



