40 FALCONID^E. 



Falcons, Hawks, and probably most, if not all other 

 birds of prey, from feeding on birds and animals covered 

 with feathers or fur, and thus swallowing a quantity of 

 indigestible matter, relieve themselves by throwing it up 

 in the form of castings, which are oblong balls, consisting of 

 the feathers or hair and bones forcibly compressed together. 



This habit of reproducing at will from the stomach the 

 remains of the last meal is common to the Shrikes, the 

 Swallows, and most of the insectivorous birds which feed 

 on coleoptera, or those insects possessed of strong and hard 

 external wing-cases. 



In the language of Falconry, the female Peregrine is 

 exclusively called the Falcon, and on account of her greater 

 size, power, and courage, is usually flown at Herons and 

 Ducks : the male Peregrine, being smaller, sometimes one- 

 third less than the female, is called the Tercel, Tiercel, 

 and Tiercelet, and is more frequently flown at Partridges, 

 and sometimes at Magpies. Young Peregrines of the 

 year, on account of the red tinge of their plumage, are 

 called, the female, a Red Falcon, and the male, a Red 

 Tiercel, to distinguish them from the older birds ; the 

 names also of Eyas, or Nyas ; Gentil ; Peregrine or Pas- 

 sage ; and Haggard, are also applied to them according to 

 their age when taken. If kept over a moult they were 

 then called intermewed Hawks. The Lanner of Pennant 

 is a young female Peregrine, at which age it bears some re- 

 semblance to the true Lanner, Falco lanarius of authors, 

 a true Falcon also, but much more rare than the Peregrine, 

 and which probably has never been killed in this country. 

 Mr. Gould says he was unable to find a specimen in any 

 collection here, either public or private, at the time he 

 was desirous of figuring this species in his Birds of Europe. 

 The true Lanner is only found in the south and south- 



