50 FALCONID^E. 







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 Christ Church 

 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. Vieillot, 

 in the Faune Francaise, says that it builds in the hollows 

 of trees, or takes to the nest of the Magpie, 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 coleop- 

 terous insects, the more indigestible 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 1830, 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 1 832. 



This recent addition to our catalogue of British Birds 



