FALCONS. 



313 



These northern falcons or gyrfalcons are said to be the only ones which resemble 

 the peregrine in being streaked below while young, and cross-banded when adult. 



Another falcon, which much resembles the young of the peregrine, but which is 

 streaked below at all ages, is the lanner, F. lanarius, of southern Europe, north 

 Africa, and southwestern Asia. Several well-marked races of this form are found in 

 other countries, for instance the lugger, F.jugg&r, of India, and the prairie-falcon, F. 

 mexicanuS) of Mexico and the southwestern territories of the United States. 



FIG. 148. Falco llthofalco, merlin. 



A better-known American bird is the so-called pigeon-hawk, Falco columbarius, 

 which occurs throughout the whole of the United States. Though a much smaller 

 bird than the duck-hawk, it is equally bold and fearless, and frequently kills birds 

 heavier than itself. It is very closely allied to, if not identical with, the European 

 merlin, F. litJwfalco; and these two forms, with the Indian F. chiquera, and its 

 African race, ruficollis, and a few others, are not unf requently separated from Falco, as 

 a sub-genus ^EJsalon, the merlins. 



