FALCONS. 79 



The Honey-Buzzard {Pernis apivorus) (938) is a regular summer- 

 visitor to Great Britain, and a few pairs still breed where they are 

 afforded protection. Andersson's Pern {MachcBrhamphus anderssoni) 

 (939), an allied African form also shown, is a very rare bird with 

 crepuscular habits and feeds, partly at least, on bats. 



The Falcons [Falconince'\ are characterised by their short powerful bill, [Case 53.] 

 which is provided with a tooth-like process on each side of the upper 

 mandible. This sub-family includes the most typical raptorial birds, such 

 as the Peregrine Falcon {Falco pereyrinua) (951 ) [PI. XVI.] and its allies, 

 in which the compactly built body is formed so as to combine the 

 maximum of strength with the greatest possible speed on the wing. At 

 the foot of the Case are placed the Jer- Falcons (Hierofalco) , which 

 include some of the largest species, inhabiting the colder parts of the 

 Northern Hemisphere. The most beautiful of these noble birds is un- 

 doubtedly the nearly white Greenland form {H. candicans) (942), which, 

 like its allies the Iceland and Scandinavian Jer-Falcons [H. islandus (944) 

 [PI. XXV.] and H. gyrfalco (945)), occasionally visits Great Britain. 

 Jer-Falcons were formerly held in high esteem by falconers for, 

 though less bold than the Peregrine, their greater strength enables 

 them to take quarry for which the Peregrine is no match. In the latter 

 bird, various races of which are distributed over the Old and New Worlds, 

 we have the most highly specialised Bird of Prey and the one most 

 highly prized in Falconry at the present time. Besides the Common 

 Peregrine a fine example of the Shahin {F. peregrinator) (950), a darker- [Case 53.] 

 coloured Indian form, may be seen as well as the Lanner, Barbary, and 

 Laggar Falcons {F. feldeggi, F. barharm, and F. jugger) (947, 948, 949). 

 Among the smaller Falcons will be found the Hobby [F. suhhuteo) 

 (952), and the IVIerlin {F. cBsalon) (953), both well-known British species, 

 and the Red-headed Merlin (F. chiquera) (954), a very handsome 

 Indian species. 



The Black-legged Falconet [Microhierax cmrulescens) (956) represents 

 a group of diminutive Falcons inhabiting the Indo-Malayan region. 

 In spite of their small size they are bold and dashing in their habits, 

 and besides insects, capture birds as large as Quails. The allied genus 

 Poliohierax, represented by Feilden's Falcon (957), is remarkable among 

 birds of this group in having the sexes entirely different in plumage, 

 the back of the female being dark chestnut. The Kestrels {Cerchneis), a 

 somewhat numerous genus, are represented by the common species 

 [C. tinnunculus) (958), plentiful in the British Isles and valuable to 

 the farmer as a destroyer of mice, voles, and insects, and by the Lesser 

 Kestrel (C naumanni) (959), which appears on the British List as an 

 occasional visitor from Southern Europe. In the Red-footed Falcon 

 {Erythropus vespertinus) (962), as in the true Kestrels, the sexes diflFer 



