FALCON. 73 



stationed there many years, and was peculiarly accurate in his 

 obsenations. 



This species, with its varieties, has ever been in much estimation 

 for its use in falconry, and Iceland has the reputation of furnishing 

 the most generous breed.* The King of Denmark is said to send 

 there annually to buy up all that can be procured, the established 

 place being Bessested, to which the Icelanders bring them as soon as 

 taken, the white ones being in most esteem, and they must be very 

 docile, for they catch them in nets, of any size or age.f Bell, in his 

 Travels, J says, that about Zabach-yeer and Casan are caught the 

 best and largest Falcons in the world, which are purchased by the 

 Turks and Persians — the Russians prefer the old ones, which are 

 taken in nets, with a live bird as a decoy. These will fly at swan» 

 goose, heron, or crane, and ^vill take a duck out of the water when 

 only the bill appears. The Tartars also fly them at antelopes and 

 hares. Some of the Falcons are as white as a dove. 



21.— COLLARED FALCON. 



Falco rusticolus, /nJ. Orn. i. 28. Lin. 125. Faun. suec.'So.bG. Cm. im. i. 208. Fn. 



groenl. No. 34. Beckst. DeiU. ii. app. s. 839. Daud. n. 103. 

 Collared Falcon, Gen. Syn. i. 56. Id. Sup. 15. Jrct. Zool. ii. p. 226. G. 



SIZE of a hen ; bill lead colour ; cere and eyelids luteous ; 

 plumage above ash-coloured, undulated with white ; beneath white, 



* Capt. Sabine mentions -a single instance of its being found in Greenland.— JLin. Tram. 



12, p. 528. 

 t Also at Vienna, a* the following letter will test\fy.— Copenhagen, Dec. 17, 1791. — 

 " The vessel on board of which were the Falcons from Iceland, annually sent to the Court of 

 Vienna, was shipwrecked near Castrop." — .S'f. James's Chron. Jan. 10, 1792. 



* Beirs Trav. 1, p. 18, 



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