34*6 The Hiftory p/ ANIMALS. 
rius et Arborarius. Thefe are the names under which Gefner, Aldrovand, and others 
have deferibed it; but moil of thofe writers have made two fpecies of it, not confi- 
dering the conftant difference in fize between the males and females in the birds of 
prey, and the {lighter variations in colour. This fpecies builds in great abundance in 
the Hartz-foreft, where it is common to fee the male and female together on that oc~ 
cafion 5 and any one who does fo, will be convinced of the error of thofe who have 
made them two fpecies. It lays four eggs of a dufky greyifh-white, variegated, 
principally toward the larger end, with irregular blotches of pu.rple. It is at all times 
a bold feeder, but in the time of breeding is more than ordinarily fo, and will feize on 
the largeft birds, and on the young of quadrupeds. 
Falco pedibus flavis , cor porefufeo^ capite metjore. 
The large-headed Falco , with a brown body , and 
legs. 
This is of the fize of a pullet, but it’s body is flender, in proportion to it’s length, 
and it Hands very ereft, and has at once an elegant and majeftic appearance : the head 
is large and rounded : the beak is large, robuft, and very much hooked; it is of a 
dufky horn colour, with a tinge of bluifh all over, except at the point which hangs 
over the under chap, and is very hard, fharp, and black: the membrane that covers 
it’s bale is yellow and wrinkled, and the noflrils in this are large, oblong, and placed 
obliquely : the eyes are very bold and fierce in their afpeft; the iris is yellow, the 
pupil black, and the part of the head immediately over them is prominent, fo as to 
make them appear funk in their fockets: the colour of the head is a dufky-brown of 
the ferrugineous tinge, but with fome admixture of a deep grey or lead colour, efpeci- 
ally in the hinder part; for toward the beak, and efpecially about the region of the 
ears, it is paler: the back is of the fame dufky brown, with a tinge of the ferrugine¬ 
ous hue, and an admixture of grey: thefe three colours are not feparate in variega¬ 
tions, but are all blended in every feather, fo as to form a different tint from all three 
in the whole, and they are rather diftinguifhable in different lights than any other way: 
the tail is compofed of twelve large feathers j they are darker, or have more of the 
unmixed grey, than the feathers of the back, and the two middle ones are darker than 
the other ten. 
The wings are very long; when extended, they meafure, at leaf!:, three times the 
length of the body, and, when clofed, they reach very nearly to the tip of the tail: 
the long feathers in thefe are aim oft black, and have no variegations, except that the 
inner ones, or thofe next the body, have fomewhat of a ferrugineous caft on their in¬ 
ner fide: the feathers that cover the upper fide of the wings are of the fame colour 
with thofe of the back; and thofe which cover the under part of them are paler, and 
have fome variegations of whitifh and yellowifh, efpecially toward the edges. 
The breaft is paler than the back, but is of the fame general colour, only it has 
fome dark variegations: the belly is yet paler than the breaft ; and, juft at the origin of 
the tail, there are fome pale brown feathers, variegated with white. 
The legs are very robuft, though not very long j they are of a dulky yellow, and 
toward the feet they have fome admixture of greenilh or olive colour: the toes are 
long, and the claws are very ftrong, and remarkably long and (harp; they are black, 
and that of the hinder toe is much longeft. 
This is a native of Africa, but it is a bird of pafiage, and is fometimes feen in Eu¬ 
rope. Moft of the writers on birds have deferibed it under the name of Falco Tu- 
netanus. The male is fomewhat different in colour from the female here deferibed, 
and is fmaller $ but the difference is lefs than in moft other of the birds of prey. 
Falco 
