DIURNAL BIRDS OF PRET. 



22] 



The Gyr-Falcon. 



islands of the Mediterranean Sea. It frequents high and rocky 

 eminences, and about the end of February builds its nest in bold, 

 precipitous clifis. There is hardly a part of the British coasts, 

 where the cliflFs rise to the height of three or four hundred feet, 

 in which falcons are not found scattered in the breeding season, 

 and from which they seldom retire, except as occasional migrants. 



The Gyr-Falcon is extremely 

 rare in England, those intended for 

 hawking being principally brought 

 from Iceland. On the rooky coasts 

 of Norway and Iceland its eggs are 

 laid. These birds are very courageous 

 in defending their young. A pair of 

 them attacked Dr. Richardson while 

 he was climbing near their nest, flying 

 in circles round him, and occasionally dashing at his face with 

 loud screams. The entire length of the Gyr-Falcon is twenty- 

 three inches. 



The Merlin, the least of the English Falcons, was con- 

 sidered in olden times as the lady's bird, every rank being obliged 

 to content itself with the bird allotted to its peculiar station, royalty 

 alone having the privilege to bear an eagle into the field. 



The spirited little Merlin seizes with great dexterity small 

 birds, such as buntings, thrushes, and 

 blackbirds, itself really hardly larger than 

 its prey, its entire length being barely 

 eleven inches. Even the partridge falls 

 before a trained bird. Its eggs are four 

 in number, of a reddish mottled brown, 

 laid in a rude nest among the heather. 



The Kestrel, or Windhover, as it 

 is often called, frequently falls a victim to 

 the mistaken zeal of the British farmer, 

 who takes every opportunity of destroying 

 it, as he confounds it with the sparrow-hawk, 

 of the Kestrel is field-mice, so that the farmer should protect 



19* 



The KestraL 



The natural food 



