33 6 
Tie Hiftory of A N I M A L S. 
Falco cera luteo-viridi, pedihus luteis , cor pore ferrugineo , 
vertice fulvo, 
The yellow-legged Falco , with a ferrugineous body , and fettJjEtll*. 
yellow head. 
This is of the fize of - a common crow: the head is fmall, and not fo flat as in 
many other birds of prey at the top, but narrower than in moft, and more rounded : 
the beak is robuft and moderately long, and is of a deep bluifh-black colour : the mem¬ 
brane of it's bafe is of a greenifh-yellow : the noftrils are very confpicuous } they are 
oblong, broad, and of a fomewhat kidney-like fhape : the in fide of the mouth is part¬ 
ly bluifh, and partly black, and the tongue is broad and thick : the rima or fifiure in 
the palate is broad and patulous: the eyes are large, bright, and fierce $ their iris is 
yellowifh, and the pupil is black. 
The upper part of the head is of a pale and whitifh brown, fometimes deeper, and 
with a tinge of reddifh, but in either cafe it is variegated with tranfverfe lines of a 
deep black j the upper part of the throat alfo is of the fame colour: the whole body 
is of a dufky, ferrugineous colour, only the bread and belly have more of a tinge of 
yellowifh than the back ; the wings are of a ferrugineous colour alfo, but there is, on 
the middle of each, a fpot of a yellowifh-white: the feathers, at the origin of the 
tail, are of a yellowifh-brown. 
The wings are very large, and fo long, that, when clofed, they reach to the extre¬ 
mity of the tail: the long feathers are twenty-four in each, and the exterior one of 
thefe is a great deal fhorter than that which is immediately next to it.: the fhort fea¬ 
thers, which cover the under fide of the wings, are of a mixt yellowifh and brown- 
ifh colour: the tail is about feven inches long; it is compofed of twelve feathers, all 
of the fame length ; and, when the bird expands it, it forms a kind of femicircle a£ 
the extremity : the colour is a bright glofly brown, with fome admixture of a darker 
brown, but both colours are elegant, and the whole furface is very glofly. 
The legs are long, and they are feathered a little lower than the knees: the legs and 
feet are yellow ; the claws are very long and ftrong, and are of a deep black : the 
outer toe of each foot is connected above half way down to the middle one, by a 
membrane ; and the claw of the middle toe is fharpened into an edge, on it’s inner 
fide. 
The gall-bladder in this bird is remarkably large; the appendices to the inteflines or 
cseea are fmall and fhort: the flomach is large and membranous. 
The feathers which cover the [upper parts of the legs are long, narrow, and of a 
greyifh-brown, and are variegated with oblong and irregular fpots of black : the beak 
is of a bluifh-black, often quite black. 
This fpecies is a native of moff of the northern parts of Europe; we have it in 
fome parts of England in confiderable abundance. It lives frequently in the midft of 
great heaths, and other tra&s of barren and unfrequented lands, and generally is feen 
fitting on the flumps of low oaks. It builds in moorifh and boggy places: moft of 
the writers on birds have defcribed it under the name of Milvus ssruginofus, and the 
Moor-buzzard. Bellonius calls it Circus; and Aldrovand and fome others, not per¬ 
ceiving this, have defcribed the Circus of Bellonius over again, as if a different fpe¬ 
cies. It is to fuch errors, which indeed are much too common in the writings of the 
naturalifts, that we owe the feeming multiplicity of the fpecies. Nature has limited 
the number in moderate bounds; but when one of the old writers gives one 
name, and another another to the fame bird, their carelefs followers, not attending to 
the ftmilarity of their defcriptions, give two in imitation of them, as if they were 
fpeaking of two different fpecies; and too often, not knowing to what they belonged, 
have made a third fpecies, by defcribing afterwards the creature under a name of their 
own. 
Falco 
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