The Hijlory of ANIMALS, 
The long feathers in the wings are twenty-four to each : of thefe the fecond is the 
longed:; the larger feathers have their extremities blackifh, and all the others have va¬ 
riegations of black and white along the fcapi: thefe are more numerous and confpicu- 
ous in the inner feathers, and in fome birds they are almoft wholly wanting in all; 
the Ihort feathers that cover the under parts of the wings are black, and are beautiful¬ 
ly variegated with little round white fpots. 
The tail is not very long ? it confifts of twelve feathers 5 the middle two are the 
longed, the others grow gradually fhorter to the edges, but the decreafe in length is 
but inconsiderable: the middle ones are of the fame colour on each fide of the fcapus 
or Hem ; but the others are variegated with oblong fpots of a reddilh-brown toward 
the inner part, and are white at their extremities. 
The legs are long and very robuft, but they are yellow : the toes are long, and the 
claws very fharp : the outer toe is connected to the middle one, by a membrane to¬ 
ward their bafe. 
The liver is large, and the gall-bladder, as in all other birds of prey, is remarkably 
large alfo: the appendages to the inteftines are Ihort. 
This is a bird of paflage 5 it comes over to us in April, and builds with us, but it 
leaves us again about September. It builds with us in high trees, ufually in the midft 
of thick woods, but fometimes in Angle ones, on hills, and in hedges. It is a bold 
feeder, and will at times feize on almoft any thing, but fmall birds and particular!}? 
larks feem it’s favourite prey. We have people who make a trade of catching larks by 
means of this bird ; they call it daring of larks: the fight of the hawk makes them 
lie fo clofe, that the nets are eafily drawn over them. 
The antients were acquainted with this fpecies. The Greeks called it 
Hypotriorchis j and the Latins, Buteo minor. Some of our writers, as Ray, Wil- 
lughby, and others call it Subbuteo, but this Confounds it with another fpecies already 
defcribedi 
Falco pedihus jlavis , dorfo variegato , peElore albo ferrugineo . 
The yellow-legged Falco , with a variegated hack , and a 
hr own and white belly . 
Devlin. 
This is a very fmall and a very beautiful hawk : Bellonius calls it the leaft of all the 
birds ufed in hawking, and, excepting the lanius, it is fo : it is not much larger than 
a thrufh. 
The beak is Ihort, broad at the bafe, and very hooked arid fharp at the point: it 
is of a bluifh colour all the way, except at the extremity of the upper chap, where it 
falls over the other, and there it is black and very fharp : it has alfo, in this portion, 
an appendage or denticle toward the bafe on each fide, received into a hollow in the 
lower chap. 
The head is fmall, and flatted on the crown : the eyes are large, and have a very 
piercing look ; they ftand forward ; their iris is hazel, ahd the pupil black : under the 
back part of the head there runs a kind of chain of a yellowifti or reddifh-brown; the 
throat is white. 
The back and whole upper part of the body are of a dufky hue, but, when nearly 
viewed, it is found to be variegated with three diftinct colours • thefe are a deep, 
dufky, ferrugineous brown, a deep greyifh-blue, and an abfolute black 5 and the mid¬ 
dle of all the feathers, both on the head and back, are black, that colour following 
the courfe of the fcapi or ftems in all 5 the external edges in mo ft are fringed, as it 
were, with a very rufty orange colour, or a ferrugineous brown : the long feathers of 
the wings are black, but they are variegated with ferrugineous fpots: the tail is long, 
4 U and 
