104 FALCON. 



yellow : irides hazel : the back is brown : nape of the neck yel- 

 lovvifli : belly pale, with oblong brown fpots : on each cheek is 

 a black mark like a crefcent, pointing downward : the vent and 

 thighs are ferruginous, or rather rufous*: legs yellow: claws 

 black. 



M. Brijfon fays the irides are yellow ; but in all the fpecimens 

 which I have feen, they are either hazel, or dark brown, in dif- 

 ferent fhades. 

 Manners. ^ r - P ennani informs us, that it breeds in England, and mi- 



grates in October. This bird was ufed in falconry -f-, but in a very 

 confined manner: particularly in daring of Larks, for which 

 purpofe the Hawk was caft off; on feeing of which, the Larks 

 adhered to the ground through fear, and the fowler drew his net 

 over them. 



* Not always ; for in two fpecimens, one of which I have now by me, 

 the thighs were dulky white, longitudinally marked with brown, and the vent 

 of a plain white. 



f M. Brunnich informs us, that the'Gentile, Iceland Falcon, and Hobby, 

 are ufed in falconry about Copenhagen ; and that the falconers fupply the tail- 

 feathers, when worn out or broken, with others from a different bird, fattening 

 the new to the bafe of the old ones ; by which means, it is probable, that new 

 fpecies may have been created by the moft intelligent defcribers, who were not 

 .poffeffed of the knowledge of this circumftance. Orn. bor. p. 3. 



