ORNITHOLOGY. 



561 



Raptores. New Holland, and several particular kinds having a very 

 "■"■"■v-"-' wide range, not only longitudinally across the whole tem- 

 perate and northern parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 America, but latitudinally through almost every clime. 

 Most of them are, to a certain extent, migratory in their 

 habits, although their movements are by no means so re- 

 gularly periodical as are those of more laborious wing. In 

 fact, the birds of this family, surpassing all others both in 

 the duration and rapidity of their flight, are scarcely amen- 

 able to those natural laws which, in so many instances, ap- 

 pear to regulate or restrict the location of other tribes ; 

 and hence we find, that if a mural precipice, an insulated 

 crag, the mouldering wall of a ruined castle, or the tor- 

 tuous branch of some ancient and umbrageous forest tree, 

 has been successfully sought for in spring as a secure re- 

 treat for the purposes of nidification and the rearing of 

 their young, the other seasons of the year are usually spent 

 in a life of wandering rapine. When we consider the facts 

 which have been recorded of the flight both of hawks and 

 pigeons, the migratory movements of birds in general be- 

 come much less a subject of wonder (excepting always the 

 beautiful instinct by which they are directed), than they 

 would at first appear. It is well known that a falcon be- 

 longing to Henry II. of France, which had been carried to 

 Fontainebleau, made its escape, and was retaken next day 

 in the island of Malta, where it was recognised by the 

 rings on its legs. According to Colonel Montagu, it must 

 have flown with a velocity equal to fifty-seven miles an 

 hour, supposing it to have been on wing the whole time. 

 " But as such. birds never fly by night, and allowing the 

 day to have been at the longest, or containing eighteen 

 hours of light, this would make seventy-five miles an hour. 

 It is probable, however, that it neither had so many hours 

 of light in the twenty-four to perform the journey, nor 

 that it was retaken the moment of its arrival ; so that we 

 may fairly conclude that much less time was occupied in 

 performing that distant flight." Another falcon having 

 been sent from the Canary Islands to the Duke of Lermos, 

 then in Andalusia, was found in TenerifFe sixteen hours 

 after it had taken its flight from Spain. In regard to this 

 instance the calculation is more simple, and less likely to 

 prove erroneous, because, supposing the bird to have fol- 

 lowed anything like a direct course, its flight from the 

 coast of Andalusia to its native island would lie through- 

 out over the waters of the ocean, and must therefore have 

 been continuous. Now the distance being not less than 

 752 miles, that space divided by sixteen, the number of 

 hours employed would give an average of forty-seven miles 

 an hour for the whole course. At this rate, if a falcon 

 were to leave the rock of Gibraltar on a Monday morning, 

 it might enjoy eight hours repose, and yet reach Edin- 

 burgh Castle in the course of Tuesday forenoon. Pigeons 

 have been shot in the far-inland forests of America with 

 their stomachs full of fresh rice, which, to have resisted 

 the digestive process, must have been swallowed not many 

 hours preceding, but could not have been obtained within 

 eight hundred miles of the place where they were killed. 1 

 It thus appears probable, that the most extended migra- 

 tory movement which any species is required to perform, 

 may in the greater number of cases be accomplished in a 

 couple of days, — more frequently in the course of a few 

 hours. 



The numerous species by which this great family is con- 

 stituted, though rarely adorned by those brilliant colours 

 which characterize so many of the gentler tribes, are per- 

 haps of all the feathered race the most remarkable for 

 beauty of form and elegance of proportion. Their eyes 



are usually large and lustrous ; their limbs, even when Raptores. 

 light, very strong and muscular, and armed with formi- ^-~\^— -" 

 dable claws with which they pounce their prey. Their 

 general aspect (especially that of the true falcons), when 

 compared with other birds, is well expressed by the word 

 noble ; and a single glance suffices to show that a combi- 

 nation of fierceness, energy, and courage, must form their 

 predominating character. Like most other animals, how- 

 ever, whether human or brute, they are by no means in- 

 sensible to kindness ; and their instinctive sagacity, when 

 directed by the skill and perseverance of man, has for ages 

 been rendered subservient to his amusement in the sports 

 of the field. But the princely art of falconry, whether 

 from the progress of agriculture, the consequent minuter 

 subdivision of land, and the increase of inconvenient bar- 

 riers by the fencing of enclosed grounds, — or the tastes of 

 men of rank and fortune having followed in another di- 

 rection, has now almost entirely fallen into disuse. The 

 species most generally trained for the purpose in this coun- 

 try appears to have been the peregrine falcon, but many 

 other kinds are used in eastern regions ; and even pon- 

 derous eagles are sometimes made subservient to the hu- 

 man will. Few things indeed more strongly illustrate the 

 subduing influence of reason over instinct, than that a 

 coarse illiterate groom, by tossing up a shapeless lure, should 

 thus entice a proud rejoicing falcon from his airy height, 

 and render him so submissively obedient as to forsake his 

 soaring flight, and all his bright survey of field and river, 

 and close contentedly his yet unwearied wings, to perch 

 for hours upon a brawny arm, his lustrous eye encapped in 

 velvet hood, and limbs " by Jessies bound." 



We must be very brief in our indications of the minor 

 groups ; and of several subgenera, as they are called, we 

 can do nothing more than give the names. We do not here 

 adopt the division of noble and ignoble birds of prey, which 

 we deem a distinction without a difference, seeing that some 

 of the long-winged hawks are difficult to train, while seve- 

 ral of the short-winged kinds are made with ease submis- 

 sive to the human race. 



The genus Daptrius of Vieillot (Caracara, Cuv.) is 

 formed by the Falco aterrimus of Temm. (PI. Col. 37 and 

 342). The cheeks and front of the throat are bare of fea- 

 thers. The cere is haired. The adult plumage of the species 

 named is black, with a white band spotted with black at 

 the base of the tail ; the bare portion of the face is flesh- 

 coloured, the cere and legs yellow, the bill lead-coloured. 

 The total length is about fifteen inches. It occurs in Gui- 

 ana and Brazil. Its habits are unknown. 



The genus Ibycter of the same author ( Caracara, Cuv.) 

 has the cere smooth, and the upper part of the neck, as 

 well as the cheeks, bare of feathers. The stomach is also 

 bare and prominent. The tarsi are short, strong, and re- 

 ticulated. We believe there is only a single species of 

 this genus also, the lb. leucogaster of Vieillot (Gal. pi. 6), 

 or Falco formosus of Latham. Its bill is feeble, and but 

 slightly hooked, and its habits offer a corresponding non- 

 conformity with the usual manners of the raptorial order. 

 It is of a mild and peaceable nature, living, it is said, chief- 

 ly on fruits and seeds, with the addition of a few insects, 

 such as ants and locusts. It builds on trees, and utters 

 from time to time a harsh discordant cry. It inhabits 

 Guiana and Brazil, and, exhibiting some of the habits of 

 the toucans, is called by the negroes the capitaine des gros 

 bees. 



The genus Caracara, Cuv. (Polyborus, Vieil.), has the 

 face only partially naked. The C. Braziliensis (Plate 

 CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 6) is extremely common in Paraguay. 



1 Geese are also known to have been shot in Newfoundland with their crops full of maize, a species of corn which does not grow 

 but at an immense distance from that island. 



VOL. XVI. 4 B 



