F A L 
C O. 
lamb, a hare, and three heath-poults. The neft was about 
two yards fquare, and had no hollow in it. The young 
eagle was black, of the fliape of a' gos-hawk, almoft of the 
weight of a gooie, rough-footed, or feathered down to the 
foot ; having a white ring about the tail. 
The brown fort was (fated in the tenth edition of the 
Syftema Naturae, as a diltinbt fpecies, by the name of falco 
Canadciifis, and defcfibed as “ having a yellow cere, its 
feet woolly, its body dtilky-coloured, its tail white, and 
tipt with brown.” In the twelfth and fubfequent edi¬ 
tions, however, it is confide-red as merely a variety : the 
fpaces between its eyes and its ears are naked. Its breaft 
is fprinkled with triangular fpots. 
a,o. Falco leucogafter, the white-bellied eagle. White; 
back, wings, and tail, dark-brown ; tip of the tail white ; 
legs yellow ; two feet nine inches long; bill large, yel- 
lowiftt-brown ; claws black. Inhabits North America. 
21. Falco Japonenfis, the Japonefe eagle. Cere dulky; 
legs yellow; body brown; hardly two feet long. Bill 
narrow, bine at the bale, blackifh at the tip, beneath yel- 
lowifn ; front buff; feathers on the reft of the head and 
body brown, ferruginous at the tips ; throat white (freaked 
with black, furrounded with a black ring ; feathers of the 
breaft and belly yellowifh-white at the edges ; claws large, 
and black. Inhabits Japan. 
22. Falco plancus, the plaintive eagle. Cere, orbits, 
and legs, orange ; creft black; breaft and body above 
grey waved with black, beneath black; tail white with 
tranfverfe black bands.; twenty-five inches long ; wings 
brown ; tail at the tip ; .beak and claws black. Inhabits 
Terra del Fuego. 
23. Falco Americanus, the black-cheeked eagle. Cere 
and downy legs yellow ; head, neck, and breaft, dulky- 
cinereous; tranverfe band on the cheeks; back, belly, 
wings, and tail, black; bill bluifti. Inhabits North 
America. 
24. Falco albus, the white eagle. Entirely white; fize 
of the golden eagle. Inhabits the Alps. 
25. Falco candidus, the Louifianian white eagle. Body 
white ; wings black at the tips; lefs than the laft. Inha¬ 
bits Loui(iana : with its wings the natives adorn the calu¬ 
met or pipe of peace. 
26. Falco naevius, the fmall eagle. Cere and downy 
legs yellow; body ferruginous, fpotted with white below 
the wings; iize of a cock; feeds on fmall quadrupeds. 
Irids yellow; fecondary tail-coverts white; claws black. 
Inhabits Europe. 
27. Falco maculatus, the fpotted eagle. Cere and 
downy legs yellow ; body above ferruginous, beneath 
brown. 1 his was. furnafned • anataria , becaule it com¬ 
monly preys upon ducks; morpkna, becaule its plumage, 
which is of a dirty-brown, is marked upon the thighs and 
wings with feveral white fpots, and its neck is encircled 
with a large whitilh ring. It is more tractable than any 
of the eagles, and not fo bold or favage. It is termed by 
the Arabians zcmicch, to diftinguilh it from the golden 
eagle, which is called zumach. The crane is its largeft 
prey, and it generally confines its ravages to the ducks, 
the fmall birds, and rats. This fpecies, though not plen¬ 
tiful in any particular region, is fcattered over the extent 
of the ancient continent; but it does not appear that it 
is found in America. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, 
gives the following account of this bird : “ The Arabs 
ufed to train it for the chace ; but its quarry was cranes 
and other birds ; the more generous eagle being flown at 
antelopes and various quadrupeds. This fpecies was it- 
felf an objeft of diverlion, and made the game of even (o 
itnall a falcon as the fparrow-hawk; which would purfue 
it with great eagernels, foar above, then fall on it, and, 
fattening with its talons, keep beating it about the head 
with its wings, till they both fell together to the ground. 
This fir John Chardin has feen prabtifed about Tauris.” 
The female feems bolder, more intrepid, and more lubtle; 
but appears to lofe its courage and fagacity when reduced 
to captivity, in the (fate of nature tire eagle never en- 
Vol. VII. No. 417. 
1 P* ft’ 
I 7 { 
gages in a folitnry chace but when the female is confined 
to her eggs or her young. This is the feafon vyhen the re¬ 
turn of tlie migratory birds affords plenty of prey, and he 
can with eafe provide for the luftenance of himfelfand his 
mate. This fpecies can endure for a long, time (lie want 
of fuftenance: one of them, caught in a fox-trap, patted 
five whole weeks without the lead food, and did not ap¬ 
pear fenfibly weakened till towards tlie laft week, after 
which it was killed, to put an end to its lingering pain. 
Though tlie eagles in general prefer defert and mountain¬ 
ous traits, they are feldom found in narrow peninfulas, 
or in iliands of fmall extent: they inhabit tlie interior 
country in both continents, becaule iflands are commonly 
not fo well (focked with animals : the ancients remarked 
that eagles were never feen tn the ifte of Rhodes, and 
ronfidered it as a prodigy, that, when the emperor Tibe¬ 
rius vifited that famous (pot, an eagle perched upon the 
houfe where he lodged. 
2,3. Falco albicaudus, the little erne, or white-tailed 
eagle. Cere and feet naked and yellowifh ; bead and neck' 
afti-colourecl, bordering on cheflnut ; body dull ferrugi¬ 
nous above, below ferruginous and blackifti ; tail white. 
It is of the bulk of a large cock, being two feet two inches 
long. Tlie bill and iris are inclined to yellow ; the tips 
of the quill-feathers verging on black ; the nails black. 
29. F'alco gallicus, the white jolin, or French eagle. 
Bill cinereous ; feet naked and yellowitti ; body of a duiky-, 
grey, and below (in the male) whitilh with tawny fpots. 
This fpecies is not found in Britain, but is very common 
in France, where the peafants give it this name from tIre 
whitenefs of its belly and under parts of its wings : above, 
it is of a brownifti-grey ; below, white fpotted with brown: 
the tail-feathers on the outfide, and at tlie extremity, are 
brown ; on the infide, white (freaked with brown. It com¬ 
monly nellies on the ground among thickets; frequents 
cottages and farm-houfes, where it plunders the hens and 
other poultry ; it has a flow and heavy flight, and catches 
its prey rather upon tlie ground than in the air. The 
gallicus, though claffed by naturalifts among tlie eagles, 
feems to have confiderable affinity to kites and owls, botli 
in its habit and external form. Like the latter genus, it 
cltaces its prey mod frequently in the morning and even¬ 
ing, and refts during tlie middle of the day ; although 
there is no evidence of its incapacity of bearing the (Irongeft 
light. Like the kite and other predatory birds of the ig¬ 
noble kind, its wings are (hort in proportion to the vo¬ 
lume of its body; this is particularly obfervable in tlie 
female, whofe fize is a third larger than that of the male ; 
hence, the (low and heavy motions which characterize 
this voracious tribe in France, the fcourge of the poultry 
yards. The gallicus commonly lays three eggs of pearl 
grey ; and during incubation, the female is abundantly 
fupplied by her mate, who prolongs his attention till the 
duty of rearing the family be fully difeharged. It is then 
that the wants of the young give edge to the predatory 
habits of the parents. Hens, young turkeys, gollings, 
and ducks, are then attacked with double fury ; and, 
where poultry fails, rabbits, partridges, pheafants, lizards, 
and frogs, become the indiferiminate victims of thele ra¬ 
pacious invaders. 
30. Falco auftralis, the Statenland eagle. Brown; cere 
yellow ; tail black with dirty-whitifti fpots on the tip ; 
two feet long ; voice like a hen. Inhabits Statenland. 
31. Falco niger, the black-backed eagle. Cere and 
downy legs yellow; head, neck, belly, and wing-covetts, 
ferruginous ; throat, breaft, back and quill-feathers, black. 
Size of the golden eagle; bill and claws black; upper 
half of the tail white, lower black. 
32. Falco leucoryphos, the white-crowned eagle. Cere 
livid-cinereous; legs pale-wbitifli, a little don ny ; body 
clouded brown ; crown with a triangular white (pot; 
chin white. I.arger than the ofprey : tongue rounded, 
entire; irids grey-brown; wings dulky-biack, .within 
white; tail long, (lift, equal; claws very large, black. 
Inhabits Siberia. 
Z z 33.. Falco 
