182 
F A L C O. 
dily diffinguifhed by the tall, which in the blac is very 
little forked, the outer feathers being not above dn inch 
longer than the middle ones, whereas in the fwallow- 
tailed falcon there is at lead eight inches difference. The 
male blac is about the (ize of the female keftrel ; the 
wing-.coveris are black, the front part of the body white ; 
the head, hind part of the neck, and mantle, grey. The 
yvir.g quils are affi-colour tipped with white, as the fca- 
ptslars' are with reddiflt fawn-colour. The tail is white 
benefith, grey fftaded with rufous on the upper furface; 
and tipped with white. The eye is crowded with black 
feathers or hairs, and is of a bright orange-colour ; the 
fpace between the eye and the noftrils is fbaded with 
black. The claws and the upper mandible'are black ; 
the lower mandible is black at the extremity, but its bale 
is yellow ; the.le^s and feet are yellow ; the feathers of 
tiie thighs almofrcovcr the legs. When the wings are at 
reff, they reach beyond the tip of the tail. The female 
is fomewhat larger than the male : her mantle has more 
of a bluiih caff ; the wings are not fo dark, and the white 
is not fo clear. They build in the forks of trees ; the neff: 
is fpacious, lined with mofs and feathers ; the eggs are 
four or five in number, and white. The young, when 
firff hatched,are covered with'areddilh-grey down, which 
is foon replaced by reddifh feathers on the mantle, neck, 
and head. The bread; is then,of a beautiful ferruginous 
red, and all the white parts are (lightly fhaded with the 
fame tint. It is found almoft throughout the coaft of 
Africa : Vaillant obferved it from Duyven-hoek to Caf- 
fraria ; and in the interior at Camdeboo and on the fhores 
of Swarthop and Sondag; lie faw one alfo which had 
been killed in Barbary. It is generally perched on the 
top cf a tree of high buffi, and may be difcerned'at a 
great diffance when the fun illities on its -white feathers. 
Its cry is very piercing, which it repeats almoft conti¬ 
nually, efpecially when on the wing, which betrays it to 
the fowler. Vaillant r^ver.fenjarkcd that it deftroyed of 
led upon fmall birds ; but it would.;often attack the ffirikes; 
and even ravens and kites, for the purpofe of driving them 
out of the territory it adorned to itfelf. It appears to 
feed only on infeds, as grafshoppers, but is particularly 
fond of beetles. The nature of its food gives a firong 
fmell of mulk to its whole body; and, fays Vaillant, even 
the remains of thefe birds in my cabinet retain the lame 
odour. 
58. Falco Forfkahlii. This feerns precifely the fame 
with the F. Egyptius ; and therefore is'fuppreffed by 
Dr. Turtoii. 
59. Falco haliaeros, the bald kite, commonly called 
the buzzard. The length of this bird is neatly two feet; 
its breadth about five feet four inches ; it is brown above 
and white below; the back of the head-is white ; the 
lateral tail feathers, on the inner fide, are fireaked with 
white; the legs are bare. This bird lives' upon fifh, and 
builds its neff among reeds on t lie fit ore. It takes its 
prey, not by fwimming, but by darting upon it. Linnaeus 
formerly deferibea its left foot as palmated, after the tales 
of ancient writers; a miftake which lie has covreded in 
. his later editions. The Italians compare the violent pre¬ 
cipitation of this bird upon its prey, to the fall of lead 
into water, and hence have called it anguijla piumbiiiii, or 
the leaden eagle. Thofe who 'have opened this bird, 
• have found fi(h in its ftomach : its fleili favours of its 
food. It is lefs haughty and ferocious' than the eagle, 
and can be trained, it is laid, tofiffting, as other birds are 
to the chace. It is found through the whole of Europe, 
from Sweden to Greece, and on the coafts of Africa. 
Vaillant informs us, that the African bald kite has the 
, fame proportions and the fame manners with that of 
Europe. Its principal food is fifh, which it obferves from 
a height, and plunges even entirely under water to feize 
it. Perched on a tree near fome river or lake, or on a 
rock hanging over the fea, it fpends whole mornings in 
watching for fifh that may be within its reach. Rarely 
is this fpecies found in the interior on the barren lands j 
it frequents only the ffiores of the fea and of rivers well 
ftored with fifh. They'fly to a vaft height, and utter a 
piercing cry in their flight. Their fight muff be very 
ftrong : they dart as it were from the clouds upon a fifh on 
furface-of the water, and will carry off a pretty large one. 
This bird-has an infipid fifhy taffe, which' points out its: 
food; and its fat is of fuch an oily nature, that there is 
no preferving the bird’s plumage from itseffeds : Vail¬ 
lant prepared two with the greateff care ; but after a time, 
the fat fpread among the plumage as if every feather had 
been'foaked in oil. This fpecies is called le blagre by Vail¬ 
lant ; it is the fize of. the European bald buzzard: tlie 
plumage is rough, like tire falco cyaneus, or hen harrier, 
efpecially on the belly. .The head, neck, and ail the an¬ 
terior part of the body, is white ; but tire edges of the 
feathers on the head and back of the neck are brownifh 
the mantle and fmaller wiilg-co,verts are light brown, as- 
is the tail, which is white however at the extremity. The 
large wing-quills are blackifh ; the middle ones have their, 
outer barbs of the fame colour as. the mantle. The bill 
is brownifh, feet yellow, nails black ; iris of the eye dark 
brown. 
The mod abfurd fablesdntve been written upon birds of 
this genus, and efpecially upon the bald buzzard, which 
has been long known, if it may be called knovvledge to 
imbibe and diffeminate the moit abfurd dories. Albertus 
Magnus fays this bird has .one foot like a hawk, the 
other like a goofe ; Gefner, Aldrovtfndus, Klein, and 
even LiiuireUs (in his early editions), have copied him. 
Kolbe deferibes'eagres who catch wild ducks in the air, 
and devour them while ori the wing, and others who eat 
fifh as they-fly ; but the faft is, that birds of prey always 
alight before they tear their food. Others have maintain¬ 
ed, that the eagles put to death fuch of their young-as 
cannot endure to look againff the rays of the fun; that 
bald buzzards are a crofs-brc'ed of different fpecies of 
eagles; that .thefe buzzards, produce fmall vultures, and 
that they in their turn generate large vultures, &c. 
Linnaeus has borrowed the name ).laliaetosy which he has 
given to this fpecies, from the Greek. It is applied from 
the fuppofed prediledion of this.bird for the fea. This 
preference of tt maritime fituation is not liri’dly a fad. 
The bald buzzard"is'found in the.mod. inland parts, pro¬ 
vided they are fuppiiedAvith rivers or lakes. It might 
have, with: equal propriety, been called a water eagle. 
The fpecific character Which Linnaeus gives of the falco 
kaliactos, A, “that its cere air'd feet are ccerulean, its body 
dufky above and white below, and its head whitifh.” 
There are three .varieties : x. The reed buzzard, falco 
arundinaceus. Cere afh-coloured, feet pale, body grey 
above and whitilh below, tail equal. 2. The Cayenne 
buzzard, falco Cayanenfis. Its body is dufky ferruginous, 
and there is a vyhite line drawn from the upper mandible 
through each eye to the hind part of the head, which is 
alfo-white. 3. The F. Carolinenfis, or fi thing eagle of Ame¬ 
rica. This bird, called th zfjhcr by father Dutcrtre, is 
probably the fame with Catelby’s filhing hawk of Caro¬ 
lina. It is, fays he, of the lize.cf a gos hawk, but with 
a longer body ; its wings, when doled, ftretch a little 
beyond the extremity of the tail, and when expanded 
meafure more than five feet. Its iris.is yellow; its cere 
blue; its bill black; its feet of a pale blue; its nails 
black, and almoft of the fame length ; the upper part of 
the body, of the wings, and of the tail, is dark brown; 
all the under parts are white ; the feathers on tiie legs 
are white, fhorr, and applied clofe to the fkin. “ The 
fifher,” fays father Dutertre, “ is exadly like the manf- 
feny, except that its ventral feathers are white, and thofe. 
on the crown of the head black ; its claws are fomewhat 
fmaller. The fifher is a real pirate; it molefts not the 
land-animals, or the birds of the air, but direds its attacks 
upon the fifh alone, which it deferies from the top of a 
branch, or the point of a cliff, and, obferving them at the. 
furface of the water, it inftantly darts upon them, feizes 
them with its talons, and retires to devour its prey on a 
rock. 
