282 FALCON. 



228.— BLUE-BACKED FALCON. 



LENGTH Hi in. breadth 21^. Bill dusky blue ; cere yellow ; 

 irides red ; plumage above fine blue grey ; with a few lines of black 

 on the head, and back of the neck; quills dusky black ; tail blue, 

 crossed with three dusky bars, which at the end and the base are 

 twice as broad as those of the middle; all the under parts, from chin 

 to vent, pale, marked with light ferruginous bars and streaks ; thighs 

 the same, the feathers long ; vent and under tail coverts white ; legs 

 yellow, slender. 



Inhabits the neighbourhood about Georgia in America, and is 

 particularly destructive to chickens ; whence it has obtained the name 

 of Chicken-Hawk. This has some affinity to the Pigeon-Hawk, 

 but in Mr. Abbot's opinion is a distinct species, and a much scarcer 

 bird. 



229.--GREAT-BILLED FALCON. 



Falco magnirostris, Ind.Orn.'i. p. 46. Gm. Lin. i. 282, Daud. iu 84. Shaw's Zool. 



vii. 190. 

 Epervier a gros bee de Cayenne, Buf. i. 237. PI. enl. 464? 

 Epervier bleuatre, Voy. d'Azara ii. No. 26. 

 Great-billed Falcon, Gen. Syrt. i. p. 103. Id. Sup. p. 27. 



BUFFON describes this bird as exceeding the Sparrow-Hawk 

 a little in size ; the bill longer, thicker, and black ; cere yellow ; 

 irides orange; plumage brown above, edged with feiTuginous; before^ 



