214 The Falcon-like Birds 



heavily spotted or blotched with dusky. "The flight of this bird," says Fisher, 

 "is swift and graceful, though in most cases it is carried on at no great distance 

 from the ground. It is not a shy bird, except in sections where it has learned that 

 man is its worst enemy." It is a typical plains bird and is found in the dry 

 interior. The nest is usually placed on a shelf or niche in the perpendicular 

 surface of a stream bank, a rocky ledge, or occasionally in hollow trees. They 

 lay three or rarely four eggs, which are creamy white with blotches and spots of 

 reddish brown. The Prairie Falcon feeds on birds, mammals, reptiles, and the 

 larger insects, and does considerable damage in the way of destroying game birds, 

 though this is perhaps more than offset by its destruction of injurious rodents. 



Saker Falcon. The last of this group that we shall have space to mention 

 is the Saker Falcon (F. cherrug), a large, handsome bird ranging from south- 

 eastern Europe through central Asia to China and India. The male is about 

 eighteen inches long while the female is much larger, reaching the length of 

 twenty-four and one half inches. It has unusually long toes and claws, and has 

 the plumage pale, earthy brown above, each feather margined with rufous, and 

 aside from the pure white face and throat, the under parts are whitish streaked 

 with brown. The tail is long, brown above, the feathers barred with whitish 

 on the inner web, and ovally spotted with the same on the outer web. The head 

 is pale rufous, sometimes bleaching nearly white. The Saker frequents open 

 country, feeding in some parts of its range at least on large spiny lizards. The 

 nest, a rather small affair, is placed in trees, and the eggs are said to be usually 

 four in number. In certain parts of its range, notably India, where it is called 

 the Cherug, and in Palestine, the Saker is trained for "hawking," being flown 

 at gazelles, hares, cranes, etc. 



The Peregrine Falcon ( F. peregrinus) of Europe and portions of Asia may be 

 taken as typical of another group (subgenus Rhynchodori) of Falcons, in which 

 the tarsus is often shorter, and is never much longer, than the middle toe, while 

 the first quill is longer than the third. This species, the male of which is about 

 fifteen inches and the female eighteen inches in length, is dark bluish gray above, 

 with darker bands, and decidedly darker head, while the lower parts are creamy 

 buff or buffy white, barred and spotted with black. The quills are brownish 

 black, edged with gray, and the tail-feathers grayish, broadly barred with black 

 and tipped with white. The cere and feet are yellow and the iris dark brown. 

 "This famed bird," says Hudson, "is of a handsome appearance, not Swallow- 

 like as is the Kite, nor so massive as the Eagle, but nature in fashioning it has 

 observed the golden mean, and the result is a being so well balanced in all its 

 parts and so admirably adapted for speed, strength, and endurance that to many 

 minds it has seemed the most perfect among winged creatures." Its trim, 

 compact figure, as it stands erect and motionless on some projecting crag, make 

 it appear as though "carved out of stone or marble of a beautiful soft tint." It 

 has long, sharp-pointed wings and an exceedingly rapid flight, and as it possesses 

 undaunted courage, it frequently pursues birds larger than itself, rarely failing 

 to strike them down. It subsists almost entirely upon birds, such as Ducks, 

 Waders, Pigeons, Grouse, Partridges, and, of course, such smaller species as come 



