FALCONIFORMES. 



381 



Fig. 216. — Foot of Raptorial Bird. 



The Falconidw include all our Diurnal Birds of Prey — the 

 Hawks, Falcons, Buzzards, Kites, Harriers, and Eagles. They 

 have a hooked beak furnished with a sharp projection on each 

 side ; the cere is always devoid of feathers, with the rounded 

 nostrils placed laterally upon it. The feet are raptorial — that 

 is, are armed with long, sharp, curved talons (fig. 216). Unlike 

 the ^''ultures, they have 

 fourteen cervical verte- 

 bras. All the Accipitres 

 have the oil-gland tuft- 

 ed. They eject the un- 

 digested parts of the 

 food from ten to twenty 

 hours after ingestion as 

 small rounded or elon- 

 gated pellets. Vision 

 is extremely keen, and 



most are endowed with very strong powers of flight. The female 

 is always larger than the male. Many of these Eaptores are de- 

 cidedly beneficial, whilst others are just as harmful ; the indis- 

 criminate slaiighter of them has been attended with disastrous 

 results, by the undue increase of many of their kinds of prey. 

 The most important economic species are the following : — 



Belonging to the genus Falco, which have short bills curved 

 from the base, with a strong, projecting, cutting tooth on the 

 edge of each upper mandible ; with long pointed wings, and 

 long, curved, sharp claws, are first — 



The Kestrel or Wind-hove)- {Falco tinnuncidus). — This is one 

 of our most abundant and useful birds of prey. It is generally 

 present over Great Britain, occurring in greater numbers in 

 winter than summer, due to immigrants from the Continent. 

 The adult male kestrel lias a bluish-grey head, neck, and tail ; 

 the tail has a broad black band towards the end, and is tipped 

 with white ; the back is pale reddish-brovni towards the head, 

 greyish-blue near the tail, with small dark spots in the male ; the 



