3 3 2 
The Hiftory of A N I M A L S. 
alhidiore. 
The forked-tailed Falco , with a yellow cera y a hr own body, 
and a whitifh head. 
Falco cera flava, cauda forcipata ? cor pore ferruyineo^ capite 
This is a common bird with us, but it is a very Angular one in it’s form and man 
ner of flying, and is not without ids beauty : it is about equal, in the bulk of the 
body, to a large tame pigeon, but the wings are immoderately long and large ; they 
meafure nearly three times the length of the body, when fully extended : it’s weight 
is about two pounds. ■ 
The head is fmall, and is of a pale, or fomewhat whitifh, colour ; the throat is alfo 
of the fame greyifh-white, and the beak is fhort, but broad, and the hooked part of 
the upper mandible turns a good way over the under: both the head and the throat 
have variegations of a blackifh hue among the grey, formed of oblong lines, defcend- 
ing down the fcapi of the feathers: the neck is of a reddifh-brown, but the middle 
parts of the feathers are black ; the back is of a dark brown, but the feathers near the 
tail are of a paler brown, nearly of the fame colour with thofe of the tail itfelf, but 
tire icapi of thefe alfo are black in the middle : the fmaller feathers which cover the 
wings are variegated with a reddifh-brown, with black and with white ; the black 
always occupying the middle part along the fcapi: the long feathers on the fhoulders 
have black lines on them, like thofe of the long wing-feathers • and thofe which co¬ 
ver the under part of the wings, are of a reddifh hue, with black fcapi: the feathers 
on the throat are of a greyifh colour, and red at the edges, and black in the middle ; 
thofe on the bread: and belly have lefs and lefs black on them, all the way down to 
the tail; and thofe under the tail have only the fcapi black. 
a ne long wing-feathers are four and twenty in number j the five outer ones are 
black, and the fix next to thefe are of a greyifh-black, and then all the reft are black, 
to the very hinder ones of all, which are variegated with brown, white, and reddifh : 
all thefe, except the five or fix exterior ones, are variegated with tranfverfe black lines 
on the outer edges, and the middle are paler : the wings, when fhut, are of the 
length of the tail s they reach as far as the middle or forked part of the tail, but not 
to the fides. 
The tail is forked, and that very deeply ; the feathers in the middle being more than 
two inches fhorter than thofe at the fides: the colour is a brown, not very deep, and 
with a caft of reddifh in it; the exterior feathers are blackifh, and all, indeed, except 
the middle ones, have black tranfverfe lines on their interior edge the tips or extre¬ 
mities of all are white. 
The beak is black, broad, fhort, and hooked : the tongue is broad and thick, and 
there is a cavity formed in the palate for the receiving it; the infide of the mouth is 
yellow, and the membrane on the top of the beak is alfo yellow: the noftrils are very 
confpicuous in this: the eyes are very large and fierce, and their iris is of a whitifh 
colour, with a fine tinge of yellow. 
The legs are yellow; the outer toe is connected to the middle one, almoft half 
way of it’s length, by a membrane : the claws are large, black, and fharp; that of 
the hinder toe is much longer than any of the others j that of the middle one is form¬ 
ed into an edge on it’s anterior part. 
The mouth opens very wide in this bird, and the fwallow is very great: the gall¬ 
bladder is. large, and the inteftine below the appendages is greatly dilated, as is the 
cafe alfo in feme other birds of prey : the forked fhape of the tail diftinguifhes this 
at fight from all the other birds of prey, yet known. 
Th@ 
