09 4 
FALCO. 
talons in the back of the fish, common]}- ! are found on the highest rocks of the Ura- 
ot salmon, which are often above the water, \ lian chain, where it is not covered with wood ; 
or very near the surface. Those of Green- I but are most frequent on the Siberian, where 
land will even take a young seal out of the they make their nests on the loftiest rocks. 
wa o te !'\, .. They are rather inferior in size to the sea- 
‘ he chrysaetos, or golden eagle (See PI. eagle ; but are generous, spirited, and docile. 
ISat. liist. fig. 191), weighs about twelve ; The independant Tartars train them for the 
pounds, and is in length about three feet, the | chase of hares, foxes, antelopes, and even 
wings when extended measuring about seven | wolves. This practice is of considerable 
feet tour inches. The sight and sense of antiquity ; for Marco Polo, the great tra- 
smelling aie very acute: the head and neck veller ot 1269, observed and admired the di- 
are clothed with narrow sharp-pointed fea- 
thers, of a deep-brown colour bordered with 
sickle : thus the moon is said to be falcated 
when she appears horned. 
1* ALCO, in ornithology, a genus belong- 
ing to the order of accipitres, the characters of 
which are these : the beak is crooked, and 
furnished with wax at the base ; the head is 
thick-set with feathers, and t lie tongue is 
cloven. The eagle, kite, and hawk, form this 
genus. r l here are 32 species, of which the 
following are the most remarkable. 
1 . The leueocephalus, bald, or white-headed 
eagle ot Catesby, is ash-coloured, with head 
and tail white ; the iris of the eye is white, 
over which is a prominence covered with a 
yellow skin; the bill and the cere or wax are 
yellow, as are likewise the legs and feet ; and 
the talons are black. Though it is an eagle 
ot small size, it weighs nine pounds, is strong 
and full of spirit, preying on lambs, pigs, and 
fawns. J hey always make their nests near 
the sea or great rivers, and usually upon old 
dead pine or cypress trees, continuing to build 
annually on the same tree till it falls. Though 
he is so formidable to all birds, yet he suffers 
them to build near his royal nest without mo- 
lestation; particularly the fishing-hawk, he- 
rons, &c. which all build on high trees, and in 
some places are so near one another that they 
appear like a rookery. The nests are very 
large and very fetid, owing to the relics of 
their prey. Lawson says they breed very 
often, laying again under their callow young, 
whose warmth hatches the <?ggs. In Bering’s 
isle they make their nests on the cliffs near 
six feet wide and one thick; and lay two eggs 
in the beginning of July. This species "in- 
habits both Europe and America ; but is 
more common in the latter. Besides Hesh, 
it feeds also on fish. This, however, it does 
not procure for itself ; but sitting in a conve- 
nient spot, watches the diving of the fishing- 
hawk into the water after a fish ; which the mo- 
ment it has seized, the bald eagle follows close 
after, when the hawk is glad to escape by 
dropping the fish from his bill ; and such is 
the dexterity of the former, that it often 
seizes the prey before it can tall to the ground. 
Catesby says the male and female are much 
alike. 
2. The ossifragus, sea-eagle, or osprey with 
yellow wax, and half-feathered legs: it is 
about the size of a peacock ; the feathers 
are white at the base, iron-coloured in the 
middle, and black at the points ; and the legs 
are yellow. It is found in several parts of 
Great Britain and Ireland. Mr. Willughby 
tells us, that there was an eyrie of them in 
AVhiniield-park, Westmoreland ; and the bird 
soaring in the air with a cat in its talons (which 
Barlow drew from the very fact which lie saw in 
Scotland) is of this kind. The cat’s resistance 
brought both animals to the ground, when 
Barlow took them up; and afterwards caused 
the fact to be engraved in the 36th plate of 
bis collection of prints. Turner says, that in 
Jiis days this bird was too well known in 
England ; for it made horrible destruction 
among the fish. All authors indeed agree, 
that it feeds principally on fish, which it takes 
as they are swimming near the surface, by 
darting down upon them ; not by diving or 
swimming, as some authors have pretended, 
who furnish it for that purpose with one 
webbed foot to swim with, and another 
divided foot to take its prey. Martin, speak- 
ing of what he calls the great eagles of the 
Western isles, says, that they fasten their 
tawny ; the hind part of the head in particular 
!s of a bright rust-colour. I hese birds are verv 
destructive to fawns, lambs, kids, and all kinds 
of game ; particularly in the breeding season, 
when they bring a vast quantity of prev to 
their young. Smith, in his History of Kerry, 
relates, that a poor man in that county got a 
comfortable subsistence for his family, during 
a summer of famine, out of an eagle’s nest, 
by robbing the eaglets of the food which the 
old one brought ; whose attendance he pro- 
tracted beyond the natural time, bv clipping 
the wings and retarding the flight of the for- 
mer. It is very unsafe to leave infants in 
places where eagles frequent, there being in- 
stances in Scotland of two being carried off 
by them; but, fortunately, the theft was dis- 
covered in time, and the children were re- 
stored unhurt out of the eagles’ nests. In or- 
der to extirpate these pernicious birds, there 
is a law in the Orkney isles, which intitles 
every person that kills an eagle to a hen out 
of every house in the parish where it was 
killed. Eagles seenuto give the preference 
to the carcases of dogs and cats. People who 
make it their business to kill those birds, lay 
one or other of these carcases by way of bait ; 
and then conceal themselves within gunshot. 
They fire the instant the eagle alights ; for she, 
that moment, looks about before she begins to 
prey. Yet, quick as her sight may be, her 
sense of hearing seems still more exquisite. 
It hooded crows or ravens happen to be 
nearer the carrion, and resort to it first, and 
give a single croak, the eagle is certain in- 
stantly to repair to the. spot. 
Eagles are remarkable for their longevity, 
and for their power of sustaining a long ab- 
stinence from food. Mr. Keysler relates, 
that an eagle died at Vienna after a con- 
finement of 104 years. This pre-eminent 
length of days probably gave occasion (o the 
saying of the Psalmist, “ Thy youth is re- 
newed like the eagle’s.” One of this species, 
which was nine years in the possession of 
Owen Holland, esq. of Conway, lived 32 
years with the gentleman who made him a 
present of it; but what its age was when the 
latter received it from Ireland is unknown. 
I be same bird also furnishes us' w ith a proof 
of the truth of the other remark ; having once, 
through the neglect of servants, endured 
hunger for 21 days without any sustenance 
whatever. 
4. Thefulvus, or white-tailed eagle of Ed- 
wards, has the whole plumage of a dusky- 
brown : the breast marked with triangular 
spots of white, but which are wanting 
in the British kind : the tail is white, tipt 
with black ; but in young birds dusky, 
blotched with white : the legs are covered to 
the toes with soft rust-coloured feathers. 
1 hese birds inhabit Hudson’s - bay and 
| northern Europe as far as Drontheim. They 
version ot the great cham of Tartary, who 
had several eagles which were applied to the 
purposes we have here described. The Tar- 
tars also esteem the feathers of the tail as the 
best they have for pluming their arrows. 
This species is frequent in Scotland; where 
it is called the black eagle, from the dark co- 
lour of its plumage, it is very destructive 
to deer, which it will seize between the horns ; 
and by incessantly beating it about the eyes 
with its wings, soon makes a prey of the ha- 
rassed animal. The eagles in the isle of Ruin 
have nearly extirpated the stags that used 
to. abound there. They generally build in 
cliffs or rocks near the deer-forests ; and make 
great havock not only among them, but also 
among the white hares and ptarmigans. Mr. 
Willughby gives the following curious account 
of the nest of this species. “ In the year of 
our Lord 1668, in the woodlands near the 
river Darwent, in the peak of Derbyshire, was 
found an eagle’s nest made of great sticks, 
resting one end on the edge of a' rock, the 
other on two birch-trees ; upon which, was a 
layer of rushes, andover them a layer of heath, 
and upon the heath rushes again ; upon which 
lay one young one and an addle egg ; and 
by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath- 
poults. The nest was about two yards square, 
and had no hollow in it.. The young eagle 
was as black as a hobby, of the shape of a gos- 
hawk, almost of the weight of a goose, rough- 
footed, or feathered down to the foot: having 
a white ring about the tail.” 
5. The cyaneus, or hen-harrier, with white 
wax, yellow legs, a whitish-blue body, and a 
white ring round the eyes and throat, ft is 
the blue hawk of Edwards, and is a native of 
Europe and Africa. These birds are ex- 
tremely destructive to young poultry and to 
the feathered game: they fiy near the ground, 
skimming the surface in search of prey. 
I hey breed on the ground, and are never ob- 
served to settle on trees. 
6. The albicilla, or cinereous eagle, is infe- 
rior in size to the golden eagle ; tiie head and 
neck are of a pale ash-colour ; the body and 
wings cinereous, clouded with brown ; the quill 
feathers very dark ; the tail white ; the Je^s 
feathered but little below the knees, and ofia 
very bright yellow. The male is of a darker 
colour than the female. The bill of this spe- 
cies is rather straighter than is usual in the 
eagle, which seems to have induced Linnauis 
to place it among the vultures. But Mr. 
Pennant observes, that it can have no title to 
be ranked with that genus, the characteris- 
tical mark of which is, that the head and neck 
are either quite bare, or only .covered with 
down ; w hereas this bird is wholly feathered. 
4 his species is in size equal to the black eagle, 
and inhabits Europe as high as Iceland and 
Lapmark. It is common in Greenland, but 
does not extend to America ; or, according to 
Mr. Pennant, if it does, it varies into the white- 
headed eagle, to which it lias great affinity. 
