ACCII'ITRES. 221 



F. cachiunans, h.; Nacayua of Azz.; Vieill. Gal. ID; Spix, 111. 



(Tlie Laughing Falcon). So called from its cry ; white ; the mantle 



and a band, which extends from the circumference of the eye to the 



neck, where it joins a corresponding one on the opposite side, brown ; 



brown and white bands on the tail. From the marshes of South 



America, where it feeds on reptiles and fish*. 



The name of Sparrowiiawk (Nisus, Cuv.), is generally appropriated 



to those whose tarsi are scutellated and higher ; but the transitions from 



one division to the other are almost insensible. 



F. nisus, L.; The Epervier Comnmn of the French, Enl. 412 

 and 467; Naum. 19, 20. (The Common Sparrowhawk). Coloured 

 like the Goshawk, but its legs are longer, and it is a third less in 

 size. It is employed however by falconers. The spots beneath on 

 the young bird red and arrow-shaped, or like red and elongated 

 tears — the feathers of its mantle are also edged with red. 



There are foreign species still smaller"!" ; but there are some also 

 much larger. 



F. musicus, Daud. ; Faiicon chanteur, Vaill. Afric. xxvii. (The 

 Singing Sparrowhawk). As large as the Goshawk ; cinereous above ; 

 beneath, and the rump, white, streaked with brown ; brown, varied 

 with red, when young. Found in Africa, where it pursues par- 

 tridges and hares, and builds on trees. The only bird of prey known 

 that sings agreeably;^:. 



MiLvus, Bechstein. 



The Kites have short tarsi, and weak toes and nails, which, added to a 

 bill equally disproportioned to their size, render them the most cowardly 

 species of the whole genus ; they are distinguished by their excessively 

 long wings, and their forked tail, which give them the most rapid and easy 

 flight. 



* Here comes the F. meIa)iops, Lath. Col. 105. It is from this subdivision that 

 Vieillot has made his Herpethotheres. 



t As tlie Gabar, Vaill. Afr. 33. {F. Gabar, Sh.) Col. 122 and 140;— the Minulc, 

 Id. U,{F.miimllus, Sh.) 



:J: Other Sparrowhawks foreign to Europe: The Mixed Lead-coloured Buzzard, 

 Azz. No. 67, or Short-toed Sparrowhawk, {F. heviidactilus, T.) Col. 3 and 91 ; Falc. 

 magnirostris, Enlum. 460, Col. 8G; — Falco columbarius, Catesb. 4, Vieill. Am. pi. 2 

 and Wils. II. xv. 3;— the Ep. iacldro, Vaill. Afr. 24 {F. tachiro, Daud.). Col. 377 and 

 420;— F. cuculoides, Temm. Col. 110 and 129;— f. xanlhothorax, T. Col. 92; F. vir- 

 gatus, T. Col. 109;— F. brachipterus, T. Col. 14 and 116, or F.concentricus, Illig.;— 

 F. pileafits, Pr. Max. Col. 205; — F. gymnngenijs, Col. 307; F. pennsylvanicus (a), 

 Wils. VI. xlvi. 1; very different from the Goshawk so called, Id. pi. liv. and the 

 young, Col. 67; — F.velox, Wils. VI. xlv. 1, is the young female of it, according to 

 Charles Bonap.:— F. lineatus, Wils. VI. liii. 3;— F. hiemalis, Wils. IV. xxxv. 1 ;— F. 

 siriatus, Vieill. Am. pi. 14;— F. juger, Vieill. Gal. 22. 



^" («) Dr. M'Murtrie says, that the species cited from F. pennsylvanicus to F. 

 hiemalis, inclusively, are wrong, and that for them the following should be substituted : 

 F. pennsijlvanicus, Wils. VI. pi. liv. f. 1; — F. velo.v (Slate-coloured Hawk), Wils. VI. 

 ])1. xlvi. f. 1; — F. dubiiis, Gm. These three birds are considered (Syn. Am. Birds of 

 Ch. Bonap.) as the same, and as identical with the F. fuscus of Gmel. 



