Order I. ACCIPITRES. 
Family IV. Falconidac. 
The fourth Subfamily, 
FALCONING, or Falcons, 
have the Bill short, the culmen curved from the base to the tip, which is more or less furnished on the 
sides with teeth ; the Cere covering the nostrils, sometimes rounded, and sometimes long and linear ; the 
Wings lengthened and pointed, with the second and third quills generally the longest ; the Tail lengthened, 
and more 'or less rounded ; the Feet of various sizes ; and the loes usually long and slender. 
Falco Linn .* 
Bill short, strong, with the culmen much arched from the base to the tip, which is acute ; the sides 
compressed, the lateral margins strongly toothed near the tip ; the nostrils placed in a short ceie, naked 
and rounded, with a central tubercle. Wings lengthened and acute, with the second and third quills 
the longest, and the first and second notched near the tip. Tail long and rounded. Tarsi short, strong, 
covered with small irregular scales, and the tibial feathers covering the knee. Toes lengthened and 
strong, the lateral ones unequal ; the hind toe long, armed, as well as the inner, with a strong hooked 
acute claw. 
ilie species of this genus are scattered throughout the world, in the open country, on rocky hills, and in deep t.illey.., 
quite regardless of the climate. Some of them are migratory, which may be caused in some measure by tie move- 
ments of the birds on which they prey. Their flight is powerful and exceedingly rapid ; but the usual way m which they 
strike down their prey is by hovering over it, and then performing a sudden perpendicular dart upon it. They prey 
principally on birds. Some of their nests are placed upon the shelf of a rock, others on lofty trees, am t ley 
deposit three or four eggs. 
!'• Gyrfalco Linn. Fl.enl.210., Pall. Zoogr. t. 3. — Falco islan- 
Jieus Briin. ; F. candicans Gmel. PI. enl. 446. 462.; F. groenlan- 
•licus Ilanc. ; Type of Hierofalco Cuv. (1817)- 
2. F. lanarius Linn. — Falco sacer Briss. Orn. 1. t. 14. ; F. 
albicans I.ath. • F. stellaris Briss. 
3. ? F. Cherrug Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. pi. 25. 
*. F. peregrinus Linn. PI. enl. 430. 421. 470. 46*)., Pall. Zoogr. 
t. 4, 5. — Falco abietinus Bechst . ; F. barbarus Linn. ; F. com- 
munis Briss. ■ F. hornoticus et F. ater Gmel. ; F. calidus Lath . ; F. 
lunulatus Laud. ; F. anatum Pr. Bonap. ; F. peregrinus Wile. Amer. 
Orn. pi. 76. 
5. F . pcrcyrinator Sundev. Physiogr. Sellsk. Tidsk. 1 836. p. 38. 
Falco shaheen Jerd. Madr. .Tourn. Lit. & Sci. xxix., 111. of Indian 
Ornith. pi. xii. 
* Linnieus established this genus in 1735. Nitzsch, in 1840, 
probably Ichthierax of ,M. Kaup (1844). 
6. F. melanogenys Gould, Proc. Z.S. 1837. 139., Birds of Austr. 
pi. — Falco inacropus Swains. 
7. F. hypoleucus Gould, Proc. Z. S. 1840. 162., Birds of Austr. 
pi. 
8. F. Jugger Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. pi. 26. — Falco Lugger Jerd. 
9 F. peregrinoides Temm. PI. col. 479* 
10. F. biarmicus Temm. PI. col. 324. - Falco chiqueroides 
1 Tl'f. suhniger G. R. Gray, Ann. ofNat. Hist. 1842. p. 371. 
12. F. deiroteucus Temm. PI. col. 348. — Falco aurantius Lath. ? 
13. ? F. frontalis Daud. Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afr. t. 28. I'alco 
galericulatus Shaw; F. piscator Gmel. ? ; Type of Ichthierax Kaup 
(1844). 
ed Rhynchodon ; and it embraces Hierofalco of Cuvier (1817), and 
