174 Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 



this species, and certainly did know the bird well, distinguishing 

 it at once from the Buzzards and Kites by its feathered legs, 

 and remarking truly, " no hay otra aguila tan pequena." No 

 one, I think, who has ever seen this Eagle on the wing can 

 mistake it for a Buzzard, as its flight is very different, and its 

 cry, frequently repeated, as unlike the wail of a Buteo as possible. 

 It appears to prefer open country and isolated groups of trees 

 to large extents of forest. The natives told me that this Eagle 

 is the scourge of the Quails which abound in Andalucia. It is 

 no doubt the bird referred to by Senor Machado as Falco lagopus, 

 as all the specimens which I saw in the Museum of Seville under 

 his charge were ticketed with that name ; he gives Milano bianco 

 as the common Spanish name for Aguila pennata ; but my own 

 experience goes to prove that that name is generally applied to 

 the male Hen-Harrier [Circus cyaneus). I find no mention of 

 the Booted Eagle in a catalogue of the birds of Santiago and 

 other parts of Galicia. I once saw the Short-toed Eagle [CiV' 

 cactus gallicus) soaring in the air near Figueras in Catalonia; 

 and a bird-stuffer at Barcelona had a fine specimen alive, but 

 badly wounded, which was obtained in that neighbourhood. I 

 saw this species in the Museum of Madrid, but Senor Graells 

 informed me that it is not common in Castile. The Osprey 

 [Pandion halicBetus) I never saw alive in Spain, but it occurs oc- 

 casionally at Valencia. 



The Peregrine Falcon [Falco peregrinus), in Spanish Halcon, I 

 saw several times about the Guadalquivir below Seville, and again 

 in Minorca ; in which last locality I observed what was evidently 

 a family party of five individuals in October 1856. This was 

 close to the town of Port Mahon. I notice that Brehm men- 

 tions Falco peregrinoides, Temm., as occurring in Spain; and if, 

 as I think, Temminck's bird is identical with Falco harbarus, I 

 have strong grounds for believing that Brehm is right. 



All the Falcons I saw in the south of Spain were notably 

 smaller than an average Peregrine ; and I well remember remark- 

 ing that it was curious that I should see nothing but male birds, 

 as they seemed to be. A specimen of Temminck's Falco pere- 

 grinoides exists, according to Brehm, in the Museum of Granada, 

 and another in a private collection at Murcia. I am not aware 



