40 FALCONID A. 
Falcons, Hawks, and probably most, if not all other 
birds of prey, from feeding on birds and animals covered 
with feathers or fur, and thus swallowing a quantity of 
indigestible matter, relieve themselves by throwing it up 
in the form of castings, which are oblong balls, consisting of 
the feathers or hair and bones forcibly compressed together. 
This habit of reproducing at will from the stomach the 
remains of the last meal is common to the Shrikes, the 
Swallows, and most of the insectivorous birds which feed 
on coleoptera, or those insects possessed of strong and hard 
external wing-cases. 
In the language of Falconry, the female Peregrine is 
exclusively called the Falcon, and on account of her greater 
size, power, and courage, is usually flown at Herons and 
Ducks: the male Peregrine, being smaller, sometimes one- 
third less than the female, is called the Tercel, Tiercel, 
and Tiercelet, and is more frequently flown at Partridges, 
and sometimes at Magpies. Young Peregrines of the 
year, on account of the red tinge of their plumage, are 
called, the female, a Red Falcon, and the male, a Red 
Tiercel, to distinguish them from the older birds; the 
names also of Hyas, or Nyas; Gentil; Peregrine or Pas- 
sage; and Haggard, are also applied to them according to 
their age when taken. If kept over a moult they were 
then called intermewed Hawks. The Lanner of Pennant 
is a young female Peregrine, at which age it bears some re- 
semblance to the true Lanner, Falco lanarius of authors,— 
a true Falcon also, but much more rare than the Peregrine, 
and which probably has never been killed in this country. 
Mr. Gould says he was unable to find a specimen in any 
collection here, either public or private, at the time he 
was desirous of figuring this species in his Birds of Europe. 
The true Lanner is only found in the south and south- 
