44 ELEONORA FALCON. 
be the male of his Eleonora. Since then it has been beautifully figured 
and described at length by Prince Charles Bonaparte, in that splendid 
work, the "Iconografia della Fauna Italica." 
M. Temminck, in his " Manuel d' Ornithologie," described, and after 
him, Mr. Gould figured and described the Falco concolor as a European 
species. M. Schlegel, however, in his " Revue," in 1844, and other 
writers since, have considered that M. Temminck confounded specimens 
of the Eleonora Falcon with those of F. concolor ; and they founded 
this opinion chiefly upon the want of confirmation, since Temminck's 
last edition of the "Manuel" in 1840, of the latter bird having been 
ever taken in Europe. M. Von der Muhle mentions, however, that it 
has occurred in Greece, though Schlegel thinks he has mistaken it for 
the bird I am now noticing. Whether F. concolor is a European species 
or not, future observation must decide, but of this there can be no 
doubt — that the species are totally distinct; and it is hardly likely that 
such good ornithologists as Temminck and Gould could have confounded 
one with the other. The only similarity between the two birds is that 
they are each unicolorous; but then the colour of one is chesnut; the 
other dark slate or lead-colour; while there are specific points of 
difference between them sufficiently clear. I have, however, amid the 
uncertainty which exists, thought it better to omit F. concolor, though 
I do so with reluctance, from the European list. 
The Eleonora Falcon is found in Spain, Sardinia, Greece, and Syria; 
it occurs also in Northern Africa, and the Norwich Museum possesses 
an immature example from Madagascar. It seems to prefer plantations 
and shrubby woods for its residence. According to Prince Bonaparte 
it nests in July and August, in cavities covered with bushes among 
the rocky precipices near the sea. It lays three eggs, of a pale reddish 
colour, finely spotted, like the Hobby, with ferruginous brown. 
I quote the following from an interesting paper on the "Birds of 
Southern Spain," by Mr. Howard Saunders, "'Ibis," 1871, p. 58. 
"Although I felt certain that I had seen a pair of this species near 
Seville in April 1869, I was not able to identify it positively until this 
year, when on the 19th. and 20th. of May I found it in great abun- 
dance at the Island of Dragonera, off the west of Mallorca. This rock, 
for it is little more, is in appearance very similar to Gibraltar, though 
of somewhat less elevation, being only eleven hundred and eighty feet 
from the level of the sea to the base of the lighthouse, which is perched 
on a summit. 
As the Falcons fly very high it is not easy to obtain specimens; for 
though they hawk for food over the sloping side of the rock, it would 
require a prolonged stay to get a shot with a chance of the bird falling 
