ORDER ACCIPITRES. 199 



more than one hundred and eighty years old, was still consi- 

 derably vigorous. 



As we do not at all intend to pursue the enumeration of 

 species, or follow any very severe method in this part of our 

 work, which would be totally unnecessary after what has been 

 done, we must confine ourselves to what is most interesting to 

 general readers. 



The two species which approach nearest to the com- 

 mon falcon are the falco frontalis and falco tibialis. The 

 former bird was discovered by M. Le Vaillant at the Cape, 

 and has a very apparent tuft extending from the front to 

 the back of the head, which erects itself when the falcon 

 experiences any agitation, and especially during the season 

 of reproduction. This tuft is bluish, and the whole upper 

 part of its body of a slate-coloured gray : the throat, neck, 

 and breast, are of a dirty white, and the lower parts on 

 this ground have transversal bands, which are also observable 

 on the tail. The beak is bluish at the base, and black at the 

 point ; the lower mandible is dentelated, and squared at its 

 extremity : the toes and tarsi are yellow : the eyes orange- 

 yellow, and the cheeks furnished with brown mustachios. 



The tufted falcon frequents lakes, rivers, and the sea-shore : 

 it does not hunt, but fishes, subsisting on small fish, crabs, 

 echini, and other shelled mollusca, the envelope of which it 

 breaks easily by the force of the beak. Its nest is on trees 

 in the neighbourhood of rivers, or on the rocks on the sea- 

 coast. The female lays four eggs of a reddish-white : the 

 male brings her the produce of his fishing, and partakes the 

 cares of incubation. As these birds are not exposed to the 

 want of subsistence, they keep the little ones near them a long 

 time : they do not separate until the latter are capable of pro- 

 creation. 



The young have no tuft until they are able to fly. They 

 are also distinguished from the old by the fawn-coloured tint 

 of the plumage, and by spots of red and grayish-brown spread 

 over the throat, neck, and chest. 



