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LE PETIT CAPORAL. 



Falco temerarius. 



PLATE LXX^iv. 



This beautiful little Hawk appears to be nearly allied to the 

 European Hobby {Falco Subbuteo, Linn.), and is not inferior to that 

 species in spirit and activity. I procured the individual represented, in 

 April 1812, near Fatland Ford in Pennsylvania, whilst in pursuit of a 

 Dove, which it would doubtless have secured, had I not terminated its 

 career. When I first discovered this species, the individual was stand- 

 ing perched on an old fence-stake, in the position in which it is figured. 

 Never having met with another of the kind, I conclude that it is ex- 

 tremely rare in the United States. Of its nest or young I am unable to 

 say any thing at present. 



The name which I have given to this new and rare species was 

 chosen at the time when Napoleon le grand was in the zenith of his 

 glory. Every body knows that his soldiers frequently designated him 

 by the nickname of Le Petit Caporal, which I thought more suitable to 

 to our little Hawk, than the names Napoleon or Bonaparte, which I 

 should have adopted, had I been so fortunate as to procure a new Eagle. 



Falgo temerarius. 



Plate LXXV. 



Bill short, as broad as deep at the base, compressed towards the end, 

 the dorsal outline convex from the base ; upper mandible cerate, with the 

 edges acute, slightly inflected, and forming a sharp projecting process on 

 each side, the tip trigonal, acute, descending ; lower mandible inflected at 

 the edges, with a notch near the end on each side, abrupt at the tip. 

 Nostrils roundish, with a central tubercle, perforated in the cere. Head 

 rather large, neck short, body robust. Legs of ordinary length ; tarsus 

 scutellate before and behind ; toes scutellate above, scaly on the sides, 

 scabrous and tuberculate beneath ; middle toe much longer than the 



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