COMMON or WANDERING FALCON. 
(Falco peregrinus. Lin. Great-footed Hawk, Wilson, Am. Orn. 
ix. p. 120. t. 76. Audubon, pi. 16. [a spirited group in the act of 
devouring Teal.] Le Faucon. Buff. pi. 421. Le Lanier , ibid, 
pi. 430, [an old male.] ) 
Spec. Charact. — Brownish-black ; beneath, whitish, transversely 
barred with blackish brown ; cheeks with a widening space of 
black ; middle toe as long as the tarsus ; inner web of the 1st 
primary only indented near the summit. — Female inclining to 
ash-color; beneath, tending to ferruginous. — Young alone, 
greyish-black, the feathers edged with pale brown; beneath, 
whitish, with large longitudinal central brown spots ; also with the 
fore and hind head and cheeks whitish yellow with black spots. 
The celebrated, powerful, and princely Falcon is com- 
mon both to the continent of Europe and America. In 
the former they are chiefly found in mountainous regions, 
and make their nests in the most inaccessible clefts of 
rocks, and very rarely in trees, laying 3 or 4 eggs of a 
reddish-yellow with brown spots. In Europe, they seldom 
descend to the plains, and avoid marshy countries. The 
period of incubation lasts but a short time, and com- 
mences in winter, or very early in the Spring, so that 
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