24 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



hand, their length of wing fits them for a continuous flight, and enables them, 

 when they have attained the weather gage, to shoot down on their prey with an 

 almost unerring aim and the rapidity of lightning. Their tarsi are of medium 

 length and are strong ; and their toes, which are comparatively long, though 

 sufficiently robust, are strengthened by a short membrane, which connects the first 

 phalanges of the anterior ones, and is most conspicuous between the two outer 

 ones. The claws are strong, sharp, and curved, and are well adapted to the mode 

 in which these birds kill their prey, which is by a stroke of the foot. There are 

 some prominent tubercles on the under surface of the toes, probably intended to 

 act as cushions in preserving the toes in the proper degree of curvature when in 

 the act of giving the stroke. 



The European Peregrine Falcon, or, as it is termed provincially in England, the 

 " Duck-hawk," " Haggard," or " Blue-backed Falcon," was held in high esteem as 

 long as the art of falconry was cultivated, the female being most prized and em- 

 ployed against larger birds ; while the male, from its being one-third smaller, was 

 denominated a " tiercelet " or "tercel," and flown only at partridges and small 

 game. The Peregrine is distinguished by ornithologists from the allied species, 

 by the length of its wings, which, when folded, are as long as the tail; by its having 

 the middle toe as long as the tarsus ; and by its having a large black mark or 

 whisker descending from under the eye, for an inch or more, along the side of 

 the throat. In the young Peregrine this mark is less distinct, being made up 

 of a number of spots; but it becomes darker and more conspicuous as the bird 

 advances in age : whereas, in the closely resembling species, the Lanner, the 

 whisker is narrow in the young bird, and vanishes entirely in the old one. It is 

 only the first quill feather of the Peregrine that is strongly notched, near the point 

 of the inner web. The European Hobby (F. sub-butco) is an almost exact minia- 

 ture resemblance of the Peregrine, which has not hitherto been found in America. 

 The Peregrine being a rare bird in the wooded districts of the fur countries where 

 the trading-posts are established, I did not procure a specimen on the late Expe- 

 ditions ; but I have frequently seen it whilst on the march across the barren 

 grounds. Of the two specimens figured by Edwards, one was from Hudson's 

 Bay, and the other was caught off the entrance of Hudson's Straits. Captain 

 Parry likewise brought home several male and female specimens from the coast of 

 Melville Peninsula, some of which are preserved in the British Museum. It is a 

 summer visitor of the northern parts of America, and frequents the coast of Hudson's 

 Bay and the Arctic Sea, with the barren grounds, but is very seldom seen in the 

 interior. It preys habitually on the Long-tailed Ducks (Anas glacialis), which 



