RED-FOOTED FALCON. 57 



Buffon described and figured the adult male as a singular 

 variety of that bird. The young female has more the 

 appearance of a young Merlin. One specimen caught in 

 Berkshire is recorded by F. Holme, Esq. of Corpus Christi 

 College, Oxford, and a second by the Rev. N. C. Strick- 

 land, obtained in Yorkshire. Four examples of this Fal- 

 con were killed in the county of Norfolk in 1830, three of 

 which were shot by Mr. Heath at Horning; and since 

 that period several others have occurred in different parts 

 of England, and one in Ireland. M. Viellot, in the Faune 

 Franpaise, says that it builds in the hollows of trees, or 

 takes to the nest of the Magpie, sometimes in companies 

 like Rooks, and that it flies and hawks for its prey only 

 in the evening. It has lately been stated to breed on the 

 Pyrenees, and to lay four eggs ; a drawing of an egg sent 

 me resembles that of the Merlin in form and colour, but 

 is a little smaller in size. Its food is ascertained to be 

 small birds and large coleopterous insects, the more indi- 

 gestible parts of which have been found in the stomach. 



The Red-footed Falcon is a native of Russia, Poland, 

 and Austria, from whence it passes southward in Europe 

 to Provence, Tuscany, Corfu, Sicily, Malta, and Crete; 

 it has also been shot at Trebizond, and in India. 



Since my notice of the four specimens killed in Norfolk 

 in 1 830, other examples have been shot in the same county 

 in 1832 and 1843. Two specimens have been obtained in 

 Yorkshire, and one in the county of Durham. An adult 

 female specimen lived two years in the menagerie of the 

 Zoological Society. A specimen is preserved in a museum 

 at Devonport, which was obtained not far off; and Mr. 

 Thompson of Belfast has recorded a notice of one that 

 was killed in the county of Wicklow in the summer of 

 1832. 



This recent addition to our catalogue of British Birds 



