9° British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



six or seven in number, the larger species having fewer than the smaller ; they are 

 sviboval or elliptical, and in colour are generally of a whitish ground, spotted and 

 blotched with various shades of red, and some of them are very beautiful. The 

 young are at first covered with down, and remain in the nest until they are fully 

 fledged. Their first plumage is generally darker than that of their parents, and 

 the markings upon it are longitudinal instead of being transverse. The males are 

 always smaller than the females. 



Some of the Falconid(c haunt the moors and fens, as the Harriers ; some are 

 birds of the large Woodlands and cultivated districts, as the Kite, the Gos-Hawk, 

 the Sparrow- Hawk, the Buzzard, the Hobby, and the Kestrel ; some are denizens 

 of mountains and bare moors, as the Eagle and the Merlin ; some love the cliffs 

 along the coast, as the Peregrine, the Osprey, and the White-tailed Bagle ; they 

 are distributed all over the country, each district having its appropriate bird.* 



It must be added that all the Falconidce are migratory birds, coming north in 

 the spring to their breeding quarters, and, in the autumn, again " stretching their 

 wings towards the south." f As soon as the young are capable of hunting for 

 themselves the old birds drive them away, and the passage birds in the autumn 

 are mainly composed of those of the first year. Some of the adults remain for 

 the winter without migrating, if the district at this season continues to supply 

 them with their food, but all the Falcons of the far north come south in attendance 

 upon the migratory flocks of wild fowl. Buzzards congregate at the seasons of 

 migration, and fl}' in large flocks at a great height in the air, whence their cry 

 is often heard as they pass overhead among the clouds. 



* This description of the Falconidce is mainly taken from Macgillivray. 

 t Job xxxix, 25. 



