312 BIRDS. 



neck and breast of the young, until the fourth year inclusive, are of 

 a brown colour, more or less deep. This bird is the Phene of the 

 Greeks, and the Ossifraga of the Latins.* 



Falco,* Lin. 



The Falcons form the second, and by far most numerous division of 

 the diurnal birds of prey. Their head and neck are covered with 

 feathers; their eye-brows project, which occasions the eye to appear 

 sunk, and gives to their physiognomy a character very different from 

 that of the Vultures: the greater number prey on living animals, but 

 they differ much from one another in the courage with which they pursue 

 it. Their first plumage is often very differently coloured from that of 

 the adult, which is only assumed in their third or fourth year, a circum- 

 stance which has occasioned a great multiplication of species by natural- 

 ists. The female is generally one-third larger than the male, which, on 

 this account, is styled a tarsel, or tiercel. We shall, first of all, subdivide 

 this genus into two great sections. 



NOBLE BIRDS OF PREY. 



Falco, Bechst. Falcons, properly so called. 



The true Falcons constitute the first, and, in proportion to their size, 

 are the most courageous, a quality which is derived from the power of 

 their arms and wings; their bill, curved from its base, has a sharp tooth 

 on each side of its point, and the second quill of their wings is the longest, 

 the first nearly equalling it, which renders the whole wing longer and 

 more pointed. From this, also, result peculiar habits; the length of the 

 quills and of their wings diminishes their vertical power, and compels them, 

 in a calm state of the atmosphere, to fly very obliquely forwards, so that 

 when they wish to rise directly upwards, they are obliged to fly against 

 the wind. These birds are the most docile and the most serviceable of 

 all those employed by falconers, who teach them to pursue game, and to 

 return at their call. Their wings are longer than their tails. 



F. communis, Gm."!" (The Common Falcon). As large as a 

 hen, and distinguished by a triangular, black moustache on the cheek, 

 larger than that of any other species of the genus; it varies as to 

 colours nearly in the following manner: when young, it is brown 

 above, the feathers edged with reddish ; underneath whitish, with 

 longitudinal brown spots. As it increases in age, the spots on the 

 belly and thighs have a tendency to form transverse blackish lines, 

 and the white increases on the throat and root of the neck; the 

 plumage on the back, at the same time, becomes more uniform, and 



* Savigny, Ois. d'Egyp. et de Syrie, p. 18, in the great work on Egypt, was the 

 first wlio firmly established this synonyme. 



f We must take especial care not to refer to this species the pretended varieties 

 of the Falco commu7iis given by Gmelin. Thus the var. a, Frisch. 74, is a Buzzard; 

 rf, Id. 75, is a Booted Buzzard; e, Id. 80, the Falco pygargus, L.; tli, Id. 76, a Buz- 

 zard somewhat paler than usual; A-, Aldrov. 494, a very distinct species, &c. On 

 the contrary, the F. islandicus, harbarus, and peregrimts may all be the Common Fal- 

 con at different periods of moulting. 



