30 SAKEIi FALCON. 
birds are accustomed to roost at night. They are furnished with a 
spring, which turns at the movement of a feather, so that the prisoner 
hangs in the air, and cannot hurt itself until the Falconer, who is on 
the watch, takes it out." 
The following is M. SchlegePs description of the Saker Falcon, which 
from the confusion of its diagnosis, we shall be excused for quoting 
at length from his work upon Falconry. 
"The Sacer of the Falconers is a bird of a figure rather stronger 
than the Lanner, and consequently it is intermediate in this respect 
between this species and the Gyr-Falcon. It is distinguished from 
these two Falcons when young by a different modification of the tints, 
and by the two intermediate quills of the tail not being generally 
ornamented with bright bands. In adult age it is different from all 
other Falcons. Its plumage, like that of the young birds, is of more 
agreeable tints, and has not transverse bands either on the upper part 
of the body or on the under side. The tarsi are feathered above 
half their length. The tail goes beyond the wings when folded, from 
an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half. 
In the first year, though the colours are distributed in general 
similarly to those of the young Gyr-Falcon, it differs from it in the 
following details: — The ground colour of the upper parts is not so deep 
in the Saker, particularly on the tail, and it approaches more strongly 
to brown. There are only some isolated bright spots to be seen 
on the scapularies, which spots, as well as the borders of the feathers, 
are of a pale reddish brown, clearer upon the edges of the quill 
feathers. There is more white upon the nape, and upon the npper 
part of the head, where may also be seen some traces of a very pale 
reddish brown. The tail is widely bordered with white at the extremity; 
generally only clear markings are to be seen on the internal barbs of 
the lateral tail quills, and these markings, to the number of ten or 
eleven, are of an oval form, approaching more or less to orbicular. 
The spots of the under parts, generally of a very deep brown, are 
usually a little narrower in the young of the Gyr-Falcon, and they are 
not often seen upon the under part of the tail, except in the shape 
of thin dark streaks occupying the shafts of the feathers. The auditory 
region is always marked with white in the middle, and this prevails 
on the front of the forehead. The quill feathers have clear spots upon 
their inner barbs. The feet, the cere, and eyelids, are of a livid greenish 
blue, approaching to yellow in the plates of the toes. 
The colours of the Saker undergo in moulting the following changes: 
The ground colour of the upper parts is paler, distinctly so on the 
tail; the edges of the feathers are, on the contrary, of a more lively 
