FALCON. 



461 



part reddish, streaked with white. The throat and 

 under tail-coverts white ; the beak ash-coloured, and 

 with two strong teeth on each side ; the cere and 

 naked part of the feet are yellow ; and the length is 

 about fourteen inches. The female is marked all 

 over on the under part with small blue spots. The 

 young are brown streaked with white on the upper 

 part, and white streaked brown and reddish on the 

 under. 



Falco superciliosus. This is also a South American 

 species, and has a naked space under the eyes. It 

 is described as being brown on the upper part, and 

 having the rump marked with black and white ; the 

 lesser coverts of the wings are ash-colour streaked 

 with black ; and the greater coverts have two white 

 bands near their terminations ; the under parts are 

 whitish waved with brown ; the eyebrows are pro- 

 jecting ; the cheeks naked ; the beak black ; and 

 the cere and feet yellow. This species, like many of 

 those described from single museum specimens, is 

 very doubtful. 



Falco femoralis. This is also a South American 

 species, and is described as a native of Brazil. The 

 upper parts are bright brown ; some of the wing 

 coverts are marked with bars of reddish ash ; the 

 greater coverts are black, with white bars across at 

 their bases, and red tips , the primary quills have 

 white tips ; there are large black mustachios ; the 

 forehead, cheeks, thighs, middle of the belly, and 

 under tail coverts are bright red ; the sides of the 

 belly and the flanks are purplish black ; the beak 

 blue ; the cere yellow ; and the feet ash-coloured ; 

 the length is about twelve inches. 



Falco diodou is another Brazilian species. The 

 upper parts are slate black ; the nape, the sides of 

 the head, and the cheeks, deep ash colour ; the throat 

 white ; the under parts greyish ash ; the thighs 

 reddish ; the wings and tail barred with black ; the 

 beak ash-coloureil, with two strong teeth to the 

 upper mandible ; the irides and feet yellow. The 

 length is about eleven inches. The female has the 

 markings less distinct. The immature birds are 

 brown on the upper part, with streaks and bands of 

 a darker colour ; they are spotted with blackish on 

 the under side ; and have their thighs reddish. 



Falco meridionalis. Brown on the upper part ; 

 head streaked with red and black ; coverts streaked 

 with whitish ; under parts whitish with ash-coloured 

 streaks ; bill black ; cere and feet yellow ; length 

 about sixteen inches. 



There are several other species found in South 

 America which are described as falcons, but nothing 

 is known of their manners. There is as little known 

 respecting the falcons of Africa, and indeed of all the 

 warmer parts of the world, and the lines ot distinction 

 between them and the other birds of prey are very 

 faintly marked, but we shall give a few of the names. 

 Falco melanopterus. Reddish on the upper part, 

 with black and ash-coloured markings on the wings ; 

 under part white ; beak blackish, and feet yellow. 

 Length about fourteen inches. 



Falco Aldrovandii is a small species, only between 

 ten and eleven inches in length. It has been found 

 in Java. The upper part, and the quills next the 

 body, blackish blue ; the wing coverts black spotted 

 with red ; the lower part reddish ; the beak bluish ; 

 and the cere and feet yellow. 



Falco chicqueca. Another small species very 

 common in the interior parts of India. Upper part 



bluish ; nape and crown reddish ; under parts 

 white streaked with ash colour ; the extremities of 

 the tail feathers reddish with a black band; beak, 

 irides, and feet yellow. 



Falco lophates. Upper part, thighs, and oelly of a 

 black colour with blue reflections ; some of the 

 coverts of the wings marked with white spots sur- 

 rounded by a reddish margin ; a white band on the 

 breast, the ground colour of which is maroon brown ; 

 a large crest on the hind head ; the beak blue, with 

 the edges of the mandibles yellow ; the legs ash- 

 coloured. The length about thirteen or fourteen 

 inches. Inhabits India, and other parts of south- 

 eastern Asia. 



Falco cirratus is another Indian species with a 

 crest. Upper part black ; a long crest of a yellow 

 colour on the nape, which parts in two and hangs 

 over each side of the neck ; the tail feathers banded 

 with ash colour ; the under part white lined with 

 black ; beak blue ; irides, cere, and toes yellow ; the 

 tarsi feathered down to the toes. 



Falco rnficollis. Understood to be an African 

 species. The upper part brown ; the head streaked 

 with reddish brown and black ; the tail feathers 

 barred with white ; the under part dull white marked 

 with brownish ash and black ; the throat white ; the 

 bill black ; and the feet yellow. Length about 

 fifteen inches. 



Besides those of which we have given the names, 

 there are many falcons of which specimens have 

 been brought from remote parts of the world, from 

 South America, from Africa, from Asia, north and 

 south, from Australia, from New Zealand, and from 

 some of the remote isles of the Pacific. Indeed it 

 should seem that no part of the world is without its 

 falcon ; though it is only in Europe and western Asia, 

 that falcons have at any period been trained so as to 

 be of the smallest service to the human race ; and 

 therefore those ones of which specimens are obtained 

 from remote countries are birds of little or no interest, 

 except to mere collectors ; and in the case of some of 

 them the collecting is as likely to be productive of 

 error, as of truth. This is especially true of falcons 

 and all other birds which are, or which at least some 

 time ago were brought from Southern Africa ; as any 

 one can find by examining Levaillant's birds of Africa, 

 many of which are not African birds at all ; and when 

 skins of animals are brought from dealers at the Cape, 

 the purchaser would require to ascertain very cor- 

 rectly whether they are or are not natives of that 

 quarter of the world ; because from the Cape being 

 a sort of entrepot between Europe and the East, all 

 oriental commodities and the skins of animals among 

 the rest are of course to be had in abundance there. 

 For these and other reasons we shall not extend the 

 catalogue of the falcons properly so called ; but we 

 may remark in passing that the whole of those foreign 

 ones appear to fall into three classes, of which the 

 peregrine, the hobby, and the kestrel appear to be 

 the European types, and, according as any foreign 

 species resembles the one of these more than either 

 of the other two, we may expect a correspondence in 

 its habits to that which it more nearly resembles ; and 

 perhaps, in the present state of our knowledge, this is 

 the best key which we have to the general characters 

 of those birds. It must, however, be received with 

 some modifications, because, as we have said, the cha- 

 racters of all the genus appear to be softened in pro- 

 portion as their locality is nearer to the equator. We 



