

Order I. ACCIPITRES. 



Family IV. Falconid^e. 



The fourth Subfamily, 



FALCONING, or Falcons, 



have the Bill short, the culmen curved from the base to the tip, which is more or less furnished on the 

 sides with teeth ; the Cere covering the nostrils, sometimes rounded, and sometimes long and linear ; the 

 Wings lengthened and pointed, with the second and third quills generally the longest ; the Tail lengthened, 

 and more or less rounded ; the Feet of various sizes ; and the Toes usually long and slender. 



Falco Linn.* 



Bill short, strong, with the culmen much arched from the base to the tip, which is acute ; the sides 

 compressed, the lateral margins strongly toothed near the tip ; the nostrils placed in a short cere, naked 

 and rounded, with a central tubercle. Wings lengthened and acute, with the second and third quills 

 the longest, and the first and second notched near the tip. Tail long and rounded. Tarsi short, strong, 

 covered with small irregular scales, and the tibial feathers covering the knee. Toes lengthened and 

 strong, the lateral ones unequal ; the hind toe long, armed, as well as the inner, with a strong hooked 

 acute claw. 



The species of this genus are scattered throughout the world, in the open country, on rocky hills, and in deep valleys, 

 quite regardless of the climate. Some of them are migratory, which may be caused in some measure by the move- 

 ments of the birds on which they prey. Their flight is powerful and exceedingly rapid ; but the usual way in which they 

 strike down their prey is by hovei-ing over it, and then performing a sudden perpendicular dart upon it. They prey 

 principally on birds. Some of their nests are placed upon the shelf of a rock, others on lofty trees, and they 

 deposit three or four eggs. 



1. F. Gyrfulco Linn. PI. enl. 210., Pall. Zoogr. t. 3.— Falco islan- 

 dicus Briin.; F. candicans Gmel. PI. enl. 446. 462.; F. groenlan- 

 dicus Heme; Type of Hierofalco Cuv. (1817). 



2. F. lanarius Linn. — Falco sacer Briss. Orn. 1. t. 14. ; F. 

 albicans Lath. ; F. stellaris Briss. 



3. ? F. Cherrug Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. pi. 25. 



4. F.peregrinus Linn. PL enl. 430. 421. 470. 46,9-, Pall. Zoogr. 

 t. 4, 5. — Falco abietinus Bechst. ; F. barbarus Linn. ; F. com- 

 munis Briss. ; F. hornoticus et F. ater Gmel. ; F. calidus Lath. ; F. 

 lunulatus Daud. ; F. anatum Pr. Bonap. ; F. peregrinus Wils. Amer. 

 Orn. pi. 76. 



5. F. peregrinator Sundev. Physiogr. Sellsk. Tidsk. 1836. p. 38 



Falco shaheen Jerd. Madr. Journ. Lit. & Sci. xxix., 111. of Indian 

 Ornith. pi. xii. 



6. F. melanogenys Gould, Proc. Z.S. 1837. 139., Birds of Austr. 

 pi. — Falco macropus Swains. 



7. F. hypoleucus Gould, Proc. Z. S. 1840. 162., Birds of Austr. 

 pi. 



8. F. Jugger Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. pi. 26. - — Falco Lugger Jerd. 



9. F. peregrinoides Temm. PI. col. 479. 



1 0. F. biarmicus Temm. PI. col. 324. — Falco chiqueroi'des 

 A. Smith. 



11. F. subniger G. It. Gray, Ann. of Nat. Hist. 1842. p. 371. 



12. F. deiroleucus Temm. PL col. 348. — Falco aurantius Lath. ? 

 13.? F. frontalis Daud. Le Vaill. Ois. d'Afr. t. 28. — Falco 



galericulatus Shaw ; F. piscator Gmel, ? ; Type of Ichtlnerax Kaup 

 (1844). 



* Linnseus established this genus in 1735. Nitzsch, i 

 probably Ichthierax of M. Kaup (1844). 



1840, proposed Rhynchodon ; and it embraces Hierofalco of Cuvier (1817), and 



