198 CLASS AVES. 



a tree, the instant they perceived a flock of partridges : the 

 falcon follows this flock, crosses it, and in passing, endeavours 

 to seize a partridge in its claws, or gives it so violent a shock 

 with its breast, as to stun, and even kill the individual. It 

 returns sometimes after this shock, with so much agility, as to 

 catch and carry off" the partridge before it has fallen : if it does 

 not reach it until it comes to the ground, it generally eats it 

 on the spot, or takes it behind an adjacent bush. This gentle- 

 man adds, that the falcon does not follow the partridges on 

 foot, like the goss-hawk ; and also says, that it does not 

 descend perpendicularly on them, but endeavours to make 

 them rise by shaving the earth, and making a noise like the 

 whisthng of a bullet. Though it passes and repasses many 

 times, it does not always succeed in its attempts, the partridges 

 squatting down, or concealing themselves in the bushes. The 

 falcon also gives chase to other birds, as pheasants, thrushes, 

 larks, pigeons, and even ducks, which dive the moment they 

 see him. The observer just quoted also remarks that the 

 falcon almost always passes the night in the same place on the 

 thick branch of a tree near the trunk. But as most of these 

 facts do not agree with what the generality of authors inform 

 us are the peculiar habits of these birds, we must entertain 

 some doubts respecting the identity of species. 



It is in the cliffs of the most rugged rocks exposed to the 

 south, and in high mountains, that the falcon most frequently 

 establishes its eyrie, where the female lays three or four eggs 

 of a reddish-yellow, with brown spots. In France the little 

 ones are born towards the middle of the month of May, and as 

 soon as they are able to procure their own nutriment, the 

 parents not only drive them from the nest, but force them to 

 quit that particular district, which they reserve exclusively for 

 themselves. 



The falcon is very long lived. A falcon belonging to James 

 the First, in 1610, with a gold collar bearing that date, was 

 found in 1793, at the Cape of Good Hope. This bird, though 



