ORNITHOLOGY. 



565 



Raptores. In the restricted genus Falco, then, the bill is short, 

 *-^v— 'but strong, conical, curved from the base, sharply hooked 

 at the extremity, and almost always toothed as well as 

 pointed ; the nostrils are rounded, the cere bare, or mere- 

 ly encroached upon by the bristly feathers of the lore. 

 The tarsi are rather short and strong, and covered with 

 scales of somewhat variable form, but usually rounded or 

 angular. The wings are long and pointed. We have four 

 well-known British species, the peregrine falcon (F. pere- 

 grinus), the hobby {F. subbuteo), the merlin (F. cesalon), 

 and the kestril (F. tinnunculus). Besides these, we may 

 name the jer-falcon (F. islandicus, Plate CCCLXXXIX. 

 fig. 4) as an occasional, and the orange-legged hobby 

 (F. vespertinus) as an accidental visitor. The jer-falcon, 

 in spite of its alleged want of teeth, is one of the bold- 

 est and most powerful of the class. This fine species 

 seems now confined almost entirely to the most northern 

 parts of Europe and America. It is well known in Ice- 

 land and Greenland, and was often seen by Dr Richard- 

 son during his journeys over the " barren grounds" of 

 North America, where it preys habitually on ptarmigan, 

 not, however, despising plovers, ducks, and geese. " In 

 the middle of June," he observes, " a pair of these birds 

 attacked me as I was climbing in the vicinity of their 

 nest, which was built on a lofty precipice on the borders 

 of Point Lake, in latitude 651°. They flew in circles, 

 uttering loud and harsh screams, and alternately stooping 

 with such velocity that their motion through the air pro- 

 duced a loud rushing noise ; they struck their claws with- 

 in an inch or two of my head. I endeavoured, by keep- 

 ing the barrel of my gun close to my cheek, and sud- 

 denly elevating its muzzle when they were in the act of 

 striking, to ascertain whether they had the power of in- 

 stantaneously changing the direction of their rapid course, 

 and found that they invariably rose above the obstacle 

 with the quickness of thought, showing equal acuteness of 

 vision and power of motion. Although their flight was 

 much more rapid, they bore considerable resemblance to 

 the snowy owl." 1 Upon the whole, we think that Great 

 Britain and Ireland are just as well quit of such a fierce 

 intruder. The Doctor adds, that when the jer-falcon 

 pounces down upon a flock of ptarmigan, the latter en- 

 deavour to save themselves by diving instantly into the 

 loose snow, and making their way beneath it to a consi- 

 derable distance. 



A few species, in which the toothing of the upper man- 

 dible is double, form the genus Bidens of Spix, syno- 

 nymous, we presume, with Harpagus of Vigors. Such are 

 F. bidentatus, Lath., F. diodon, Temm. PL Col. 198. In 

 Iebax of Vigors, the upper mandible seems as strongly 

 and sharply bidentated as in the preceding, but the under 

 one is simply notched, as in the true falcons, and the 

 second quill-feather of the wing is the longest. This ge- 

 nus includes the beautiful little finch-falcon of Bengal, F. 

 cmrulescens, the smallest of the hawk tribe. An elegant 

 crested kind from Pondicherry serves as a type to the ge- 

 nus Lophotes. 



We shall conclude this section by a brief indication of 

 that remarkable bird, the secretary, or serpent-eater of 

 Southern Africa — the Gypogeranus serpentarius of Illiger 

 (see Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 9). Its affinities have been 

 in no way satisfactorily illustrated, and each author has hi- 

 therto placed it according to his own fancy. Baron Cuvier 

 locates it between the buzzards and the owls ; M. Lesson 

 makes it a " gallinaceous accipiter," in strange company 

 with the horned screamer (Palamedea cristata) of Brazil ; 

 while Mr Swainson is now satisfied that it is no other than 

 " the rasorial type of the aquiline circle.'' Be this as it 



may, it has a strong, well-curved bill, a crested head, a Raptores. 

 lengthened neck, and long, slender, crane-like legs. It is^ - -v—-' 

 the only one of its genus, and has been designated by a 

 variety of names. Some call it the messenger, because it 

 runs with great rapidity, which few actual messengers ever 

 do ; others name it the secretary, because it has a pen- 

 like plume behind its ear, where a secretary's pen should 

 never be ; while its frequent title of serpent-eater is pro- 

 bably better earned, by its useful habit of devouring those 

 dangerous reptiles. Its diet, however, seems to be of a 

 rather miscellaneous nature, as Le Vaillant found in the 

 stomach of a single specimen twenty-one young tortoises, 

 three snakes, and eleven lizards, besides which there was 

 a large ball in the stomach, formed entirely of the scales of 

 tortoises, the vertebrae of snakes and lizards, the legs of lo- 

 custs, and the wing-cases of coleopterous insects. " In his 

 habits," says Mr Bennet, "he partly resembles both the eagle 

 and the vulture, but differs from them most completely in the 

 nature of his prey, and in his mode of attacking it. Like 

 the former, he always prefers live flesh to carrion ; but the 

 food to which he is most particularly attached consists of 

 snakes and other reptiles, for the destruction of which he 

 is admirably fitted by his organization. The length of his 

 legs not only enables him to pursue these creatures over 

 the sandy deserts which he inhabits, with a speed propor- 

 tioned to their own, but also places his more vulnerable 

 parts in some measure above the risk of their venomous 

 bite ; and the imperfect character of his talons, when com- 

 pared with those of other rapacious birds, is in complete 

 accordance with the fact, that his feet are destined rather 

 to inflict powerful blows than to seize and carry off his 

 prey. When he falls upon a serpent, he first attacks it 

 with the bony prominences of his wings, with one of which 

 he belabours it, while he guards his body by the expan- 

 sion of the other. He then seizes it by the tail, and 

 mounts with it to a considerable height in the air, from 

 which he drops it to the earth, and repeats this process 

 until the reptile is either killed or wearied out; when he 

 breaks open its skull by means of his beak, and tears it in 

 pieces with the assistance of his claws, or, if not too large, 

 swallows it entire. Like the eagles, these birds live in 

 pairs, and not in flocks ; they build their aiery, if so it may 

 be termed, on the loftiest trees, or, where these are want- 

 ing, in the most bushy and tufted thickets. They run 

 with extreme swiftness, trusting, when pursued, rather to 

 their legs than to their wings ; and as they are generally 

 met with in the open country, it is with difficulty that 

 they can be approached sufficiently near for the sportsman 

 to obtain a shot at them. They are natives of the south 

 of Africa, and appear to be tolerably numerous in the 

 neighbourhood of the Cape, where, it is said, they have 

 been tamed to such a degree as to render them useful in- 

 mates of the poultry-yard, in which they not only destroy 

 the snakes and rats which are too apt to intrude upon 

 those precincts, but even contribute to the maintenance of 

 peace among its more authentic inhabitants, by interpos- 

 ing in their quarrels, and separating the furious combatants 

 who disturb it by their brawls." 2 



SECT. II. NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



The great raptorial division called owls are usually dis- 

 tinguished by the comparative largeness of their heads, 

 the anterior portion of which is surrounded by a peculiar 

 circle of feathers forming a facial collar, to which they 

 owe the most marked and peculiar feature of their physi- 

 ognomy. The bill is curved almost from the base, where 

 it is greatly enveloped by setaceous feathers, which fre- 



1 Fauna Boreali-Axiericana, part ii. p. 28. 



* Tower Menagerie, p. 211. 



