FALCON. 95 



The female is 20 in. in length, and weighs 18 ounces. — Bill, 

 irides, and legs as in the male — plumage above, dusky ; beneath, 

 palish, marked with oblong rufous, or dusky spots ; from the hind- 

 head on each side, to the chin, passes a circular wreath made up of 

 feathers stiffer than the rest, and paler in colour. — The rump is white, 

 breast and belly yellowish brown, in some marked with oblong dusky 

 spots. 



I need not detail here the various conjectures of authors con- 

 cerning these birds, as they will be found in page 22 of my first 

 Supplement. In addition, however, to our opinion of the two 

 making but one species, Mr. Beckstein observes, * that they do not 

 come to their complete plumage till the fourth year, and after that, 

 they grow more white in proportion as they attain a greater age.-f 



Tliese birds are not uncommon in England, but seem to shift 

 their quarters occasionally, no doubt in quest of food, which is 

 various — ^j'oung rabbits, and small quadrupeds, also lizards ; are 

 said also to suck eggs, and to destroy the nests of the smaller birds for 

 that pui-pose. It makes a large nest of twigs, frequently on the 

 gromid, or in a thick bushy tree, and lays three or four eggs of a 

 dirty white, about the size of those of a pheasant. 



To comprise the history of the two birds in question in as few 

 words as possible, it appears to us, that in the first year both sexes 

 are nearly alike, and similar to the female. The male, as it proceeds 

 in age, by degrees obtains the blue-grey colour, but the female never 

 wholly so, although in the progress of years it approaches thereto ; 

 in the mean time is capable of breeding, and in course does so, long 

 before the plumage is complete — hence the assertion of authors will 

 be reconciled ; some saying that the two sexes ditfer, the male 

 being as before described, the female more or less rufous above, with 

 a white rump, &c. Others aver, that both sexes differ but little in 



* Allg. U. d. Tog. Zusass. p.6G8. 



t Mr: White shot one such at Gibraltar which was perfectly white— Consult Colonel 

 Montagu's remarks on this bird in the Lin, Trans. V.'ix. p. 182. 



