FALCONID.E. 25 



breed in great numbers in the Arctic regions, arriving in June and departing in 

 September. Captain Parry observed it, in his second voyage, following flocks of 

 the Snow Bunting on the coast of Greenland, near Cape Farewell. It frequents 

 the shores of New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the winter, and is celebrated there 

 for the havoc it makes among the water-fowl. Mr. Ord states that the Ducks, 

 which are struck by it, are lacerated from the neck to the rump : it gives the blow 

 in passing, and returns to pick up its bird. Captain King appears to have found 

 it at Port Famine, in the Straits of Magellan ; so that it probably varies its 

 hunting-ground with the season, from one extremity of the continent of America 

 to the other. From the resemblance which the Peregrine has in voice and man- 

 ners to the Ring-tailed Eagle (F. chrysaetos), the Cree Indians distinguish it 

 by the epithet of Apeestce-kceoo, or Little Eagle. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of an old male, from Melville Peninsula, lat. 68° N. 



Colour of the head and shoulders blackish-brown, without spots. The wing coverts and 

 scapularies are also blackish-brown, but there are two or three narrower bars of hair-brown 

 on each feather. The quill feathers are blackish, with faded tips; their inner webs are 

 marked with about twelve transverse oval brownish-white spots ; and on their under surfaces 

 there are many alternate bars of white and slate-colour, the former being the broadest. The 

 tail coverts are lead-grey, crossed by arrow-pointed, or heart-shaped marks of blackish-brown. 

 The tail is barred alternately with blackish-brown and slate-colour, the subterminal band of 

 the former being much broader than any of the others ; the bars are very distinct on its 

 under surface, where they are hair-brown and white. Under surface. The black whisker is 

 large and well defined. The throat and upper parts of the breast are white, without spots ; the 

 rest of the under parts are white, with large longitudinal blackish-brown spots on the flanks, 

 and small transverse ones on the belly. The under tail coverts are crossed by distant narrow 

 bars, and the thigh feathers are more closely barred. Bill greenish-blue. Cere and naked 

 skin round the eye gamboge-yellow. Iris yellow. Legs yellow. Claws black. 



Form, &c. — Bill short and strong ; upper mandible much curved, and armed with an acute 

 tooth ; lower mandible truncated at the tip, with a deep notch for the reception of the upper 

 tooth. Nostrils round, with a central point. Space between the eye and bill covered with 

 hair-like feathers. Eyebrow projecting ; pupil large. When the wings are folded, their tips 

 cross each other over the end of the tail. The second quill feather is the longest ; the first is a 

 quarter of an inch, and the third an inch shorter than the second ; the fourth is nearly an inch 

 shorter than the third ; and the fifth and sixth are widely apart from each other, and from 

 the fourth. The inner web of the first is strongly sinuated ; the webs of the second and third 

 are narrower towards their points, but present no abrupt sinuation : " Exterior edge of the 

 tip of the secondaries scolloped." (Wilson.) Tail very slightly rounded. The tarsus, an inch 

 and three-quarters long, is feathered half an inch below the joint anteriorly ; the remainder, 



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