ri* 







FALCONID^E. 



we hare just quitted includes all UM bird* of the preMnt 

 family in which the beak ii *traight at the base, and hooked only at 

 the apex. We now eater upon the first of those group* where the 

 bill U currd from the baae. a character that extend* through the 

 remainder of the Faleonida. U may be obeenred. that thi 

 character, which thiu eeparatea the family into two department*, 

 WM equally noticed aa a mark of distinction between the specie* 

 known to the ancient*. Pliny, apparently referring to it aa a line 

 of demarcation between them, divide* the group into hia two depart- 

 ment* of A<j*Ua and Actipiln*. It U from adopting the sa >ie views 

 ^np^diag UM family, that M. Briason instituted his two leading 

 division*, to which he assigned corresponding denominations." 



> (Savigny). Beak abort; tarsi moderate; acrotaraia 

 Type, falfo eackinnaiu of Linntcua, and P. mdanopt of 



Mr. Vigor* adopt* the name which was conferred by M. Savigny on 

 the whole of the sub-family, for the present division of it. 



I), mtiamopt. Adult male white, flamed with black on the neck 

 and breast ; hack, wing*, and tail, deep black, the last with a white 

 tripe, and terminated with white ; there are dots of the same colour 

 on toe covert* of the wings ; cere and tarsi reddish. It is a native of 

 Guyana. We have illustrated the form by Dtrdalion cachinnant. 



Attur (Bechstein). Beak short ; nostrils suboval ; tarsi moderate ; 

 acrotaraia ccutellatod. 



Mr. Vigors observes that Attur is a title which has been applied to 

 the whole group, but which may be confined to those whose tarsi, 

 moderate in length, have their acrotaraia scutellated or covered with 

 broad and even scales. He considers our European species, Pulco 

 palmmbariut of Linmeus, as the type ; to which may be added P. Nora: 

 Sollamdia of Latham, and a considerable number of corresponding 

 specie* from every quarter of the globe. 



A.palumbarim. This is the Autour and A tour of the French; 

 Astore (Zinan.) and Oirifalco (Bonaparte), Sparviere da Columbe, and 

 Sparviere Terzuolo, of the Italians ; Grosser Qepfeilter-Falck and 

 Hunerhabicht of the Gennaus; Goshawk of the English, and Uebog 

 Marthin of the Welsh. 



A full-grown female measures from 23 to 24 inches in length ; the 

 male* one-fourth, and sometimes one-third less ; but when adult, the 

 plumage U nearly similar. The beak is horn-colour or bluish- 

 black ; the cere and irides yellow ; the top of the head, the whole of 

 the back, upper surface of the wings, and tail-feathers, dark grayish- 

 brown ; in females the colour inclines to clove-brown ; the upper 

 surface of the tail-feathers barred with darker brown ; a baud passing 

 over the lore, eyes, cheeks, and ear-coverts ; the nape of the neck, 

 throat, breast, belly, and thighs, nearly white, with spots, transverse 

 bars, and undulating lines of dull black ; under tail-coverts white ; 

 lore, check*, -and ear-coverts, grayish-brown, forming an elongated 

 dark patch on the side of the head ; the legs and toes yellow ; the 

 claws black. 



Young birds have the beak, cere, and eyes, nearly similar to those 

 of the old birds ; the top of the head, nape, and car-coverts, ferruginous 

 white, each feather darker in the middle ; back, wings, and upper 

 tail-covert*, brown, margined with buff; upper surface of the tail- 

 feather* with five bands of dark brown and four bands of lighter 

 brown, the ends of all the feathers white ; wing-primaries dark brown, 

 barred with two shades of brown on the inner webs : the chin, throat, 

 breast, and belly, grayish-white, each feather with a central elongated 

 patch of dark brown ; thighs and under tail-coverts with a dark 

 brown longitudinal streak instead of a brown patch ; under surface 

 of the wings grayish-white, with transverse dusky bars ; under surface 

 of the tail-feathers grayish-whit", with five darker grayish-brown 

 transverse ban, the tips of all the feathers white ; legs and toes 

 yellow-brown ; the claws black ; those of the inner toe considerably 

 Urger than those of the outer. (Yarrell.) 



Thi* bird flie* low, and pursues its prey in a line after it, or in the 

 manner called 'raking,' by falconers. If the game takes refuge it will 

 ait patiently on a tree or (tone till it moves, or till some other prey 

 is aooeauble. Food bares, rabbits, pigeons, pheasants, grouse, and 

 partridge*. The female wa* generally flown by falconers at fur, and 

 the male at feather ; but the female wa* also trained to take the larger 

 winged game, the male being principally flown at partridges. 

 TurberviM nays, " You nhal not neede to shew any other game to a 

 goahawke for her first cntring than a partridge, because in learning to 

 flee UM partridge they prove mot excellent ; and the first yeare you 

 ball doo best to flee them to the field, and not to the covert, for BO 

 will they lemrne to hold out (and not to turne tayle) in the uii.H.-t 

 of their flight ; and when they be mewed hawkes, you may make 

 them doe what you will; and understand you, that you shall i,..t 

 nrctM to take inch pun, nor to use such art in making of a goshawke 

 which is taken a brancher a* with a Nyawc, for she will nl\i :<>,, 

 know of her wife what to doe." ("The Book of Falconrie.') Net,on 

 a high tree in the outskirts of the forest ; rarely found in the interior, 

 except in tho*e part* which are open n<l )>< from timber. Eggs 

 three or four, frequently hatched in the middle of May. (Hewitsou, 

 ex relation* Hoy.) Mr. Yarrell say* that the eggs are rare, and that 

 the few which he ha* *een were uniform in size and colour, 2,|ths inches 

 in length by l;.th inch in breadth, of a pale bluish-white, without 

 any *poU or streaks. 



It is found in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Siberia, Russia, and 

 Chinese TarUry. (Miiller, Linntriu, Pennant) Very common in 

 France, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland; more rare in Holland. 

 (Temniinck.) Kare in the south of England. Mr. Yarrell says, " The 

 few that are used for hawking are obtained from the Continent. 

 Colonel Thornton, who kept them constantly in Yorkshire, procured 

 some of his specimens from Scotland. Dr. Moore, in his ' Catalogue 

 of the Birds of Devonshire,' says that it ia found occasionally on 

 Dartmoor, but I can find no record of its appearance farther west in 

 England, nor any notice of it in Ireland. A fine adult male was 

 trapped by a gamekeeper in Suffolk in March, 1833; and Mr. 

 Doubleday of Epping has sent me word that he received a yonn^ 

 bird from Norfolk in the spring of the same year.. Mr. Selby tin 

 that he had never seen a recent specimen south of the Tweed, but 

 states that it is known to beed in the forest of Rothicmurcus, and on 

 toe wooded banks of the Dee. Mr. Low says that this species is 

 pretty frequent in Orkney ; but as he speaks of it in connection with 

 sea-beaten rocks without shelter or woods, is there not reason to 

 suspect that Mr. Low was mistaken, and that the birds he saw were 

 Peregrine Falcons ? the more so, as several visitors to these northern 

 islands have observed peregrines, but no goshawks." (' British Birds.') 

 Prince C. L. Bonaparte has noted the goshawk as not common in the 

 neighbourhood of Rome, and as rare in that of Philadelphia. Sir 

 John Richardson ('Fauna Boreali-Americana') describes one shot in 

 company with the female at the nest on the plains of the Saskatchewan, 

 and states that another specimen was killed in the woody country 

 three or four degrees of latitude farther north th.m the preceding. 

 He records another killed near Jasper's House, on the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and a fourth killed at York Factory, supposed to be a \ 

 bird of the season (the specimen noticed by Mr. Sabiue in 'Franklin's 

 Journey"). 



Goobawk (Attur palumlariut}. 



The Falcon-Gentil h supposed to be the female and young of 

 this species, which is the Ash-Col., i nv. I or I'.lnek -Caimi -,\ Hawk of 

 Wilson. 



Colonel Sykcs describes on Attur (A. hydcr) among bin birds of the 

 Dnkhim (Dcccan), and there are specimens of A. mtuiVtia ami .1. 

 wrlanolevcut in the South African Museum. 



Accipittr (of Ray, Brisson, and authors). Beak short; nostrils 

 MI Wnl ; tarsi elongated, smooth ; ncrotarsm scutellatcd, the suture 

 scarcely to l>e di <. tn. .1. T\j.e, the Common Sp:irrowhawk 

 iiyillarin* of Kay : tovhieli, say* Mr. Vigors, may be 

 added many oarMspondlng peoia* whiau do not seem to have any 

 limits to their geographical distribution. 



A. frinyitlariut, the Sparrowhawk, is l.'Kp. r\i'-r of the l"i 

 Falco Palombino and Sparviere <1 Friiigiirlli of the Italian* ; I lie 

 S|>erber of the GernmnH ; Sparfhoek of the ' Fauna Suecica;' 

 A'uiu of Linnaeus; Gwepia of the Welsh. 



Adult Male. About 12 inches in lonulli ; beak blue, lightest at the 

 bae ; cere greenish-yellow : the it ides yellow ; top of the lie;id, nape 

 of the neck, back, wings, an, i (*, rich dark-brown in very 



old males with a tinge of bluish-gray ; tail-feathers grayUh-brown, 



