186 
F A L C O, 
as to tlie game. Tnflead of haunting, like the common 
buzzard,-tlie mountain-foreffs, it lodgesonlyin the bullies, 
•the hedges, and ruffles near pools, marfhes, and rivers that 
abound with fifn. It builds its neft at a fmail height 
above the fur face of the ground in the bufhes, or even in 
hillocks covered with thick herbage. It lays three eggs, 
fdmetimes four; and though it appears to be more pro¬ 
lific than the common buzzard, and, like it, a flationary 
bird, it is however more rare, or at lead more difficult to 
be found. The moor-buzzard prefers water-fowl ; as 
divers, ducks, &c. It preys on fedge-birds, and catches 
filh alive ; but whenjiobler prey fails, it feeds upon rep¬ 
tiles, toads, frogs, and aquatic infedts. Though finaller 
than the common buzzard, it procures a more plentiful 
fubfiffenCe ; probably becaufe it is more active and vigo¬ 
rous in its movements, and has a keener appetite : it is 
alfo more courageous. Belon afferts, that he lias feen it 
trained to hunt and catch rabbits, partridges, and quails. 
The Greek name is whence the Latin circus. In 
French it is commonly termed the inarjli-buzzard ; hut, as 
in that country there exifts only one fpecies of it, Buffon 
preferves the fimple name of bijard. 
79. F'alco ranavorans, the frog-eater, or African moor- 
buzzard. This fpecies refembles our common moor-buz- 
-zard in habits and dimenfions ; but the bill is longer, and 
not fo thick at its origin; and its colours are totally dif¬ 
ferent. The upper parts of the body are of a light brown 
umber, at leafh on the vifible Tides of the feathers, for 
the concealed parts are ufually white, generally unequally 
fo on the two fides of the fpine. The throat and cheeks 
are covered with weak fcattered feathers, of a whilifh 
colour, with longitudinal brown ftripes. The under parts 
of the body are light brown, flightly varied with white 
on the bread and lower belly. The feathers on the thighs 
and underneath the tail are ferruginous red mixed with 
white at the edges. The wings are brown, with tranf- 
verfe ffripes of white and light brown underneath; the 
tail is fquare, and of the fame colour with the beam- 
feathers of the wings. There, are feveral white fpots on 
the top of the neck and on the pinions. The legs and 
feet are yellow. The bill is of a pale blue at the origin, 
black at the tip, which is the colour alfo of the claws. 
The wings when at red reach about two-thirds the length 
ot the tail. The iris of the eye is light brown. The co- 
lonilts of the Cape, feeing this bird continually haunting 
the mar dies, perching on thickets or contiguous trees, and 
thence darting on the frogs and devouring them among 
the rulhes, call it hickvors-vangcr, or frog-catcher ; whence 
Vaillant calls it grfnouiUard. But this buzzard is not con¬ 
tent with frogs only ; it declares war againd ail kinds of 
water-fowl, efpecially the young ones. If feen to rile 
from among the rulhes juft after making a pounce, it may 
be concluded the bird has milled its aim; for otherwife 
it does not appear again till it has devoured the prey it 
caught, which it always does on the fpot. It catches and 
cats fill) alfo. In marfh.y places and among reeds it makes 
a tied of the dalks and leaves of water-plants. The female 
lays four white eggs. This.fpecies abounds through a 
•vail extent of the African continent, from. Needle-cape 
quite to Caffraria, that is, along.the whole ealtern coad : 
y they ate much fcarcer in the wedern regions, where in- 
Ndeed the country is by no means lo congenial to their ha¬ 
bits, being Tandy, dry, and barren, and prefenting very 
lew marlhy or moiff places : therefore they are mod plenty 
on the (hores of Duyven-hock, the Guurits, the Brak, and 
in the marfli.es of the Auteniquois. The female is about 
one-fourth bigger than the male ; and its colours are lome- 
w hat weaker. ’ 
Hd 1 . Falco Sclavonicus, the Sclavonian buzzard. Cere 
• yellow ; legs downy ; body brickdud colour with black 
fpots ; head and neck whitidt. Inhabits Sclavonia ; lize 
ul a common cock. Bill blnilh-black ; fecondary quill- 
■ feathers brown with black bands; wing-coverts varie¬ 
gated with dull red and black fpots; tail white on the 
upper half, growing brown at the end, and edged with 
dull red ; ritmp and vent whitilh with a few dull red 
fpots; legs irregularly dreaked and fpotted with black ; 
irids blackifh. This and the two following fpecies are 
added by Turton. 
81. F'alco marginatus, the Croatian buzzard. Cere 
bluilh ; body above variegated brown and rudy, beneath 
rudy with irregular oval brown fpots; tail-feathers barred 
with blackidi, edged with white. Inhabits Sclavonia and 
Croatia; fize of a hen. Feathers above edged with rudy; 
tail above brown with feveral darker bands, white at the 
tip, underneath whitilh with white bands; legs yellow. 
Added by Turton from Smellie’s edition of Buffon. 
82. Falco rubiginofus, the rudy buzzard. Body above 
brown, beneath whitilh-yellow ; bread with a yellow fpot; 
tail-feathers with four dull-red bars. Inhabits Sclavonia. 
Bill black; head whitilh-yellow j wing-coverts white at 
the tip. 
83. Falco Javanicus, the Java buzzard. Cere black, 
yellow in the middle; legs yellow ; head, neck, and bread, 
chednut; back brown. Inhabits the coads of Java; feeds 
on fill). 
8+. Falco cinereus, the afh-coloured buzzard. This 
bird is found in the trafls contiguous to Hudfon’s-bay, and 
which Edwards deferibes in the following words: It is 
of the bulk of a mifldle-lized hen ; it refembles the com¬ 
mon buzzard in its fhape and the difpofition of its colours; 
the bill and the cere are of a bluilh leaden-colour; the 
head and the upper part of the neck are covered with 
white feathers, (potted with deep brown in the middle; 
the bread is white, like the head, but it is mottled with 
larger brown fpots ; the belly and Tides are covered with 
brown feathers, marked with white round or oval fpots; 
the legs are clothed with foft white .feathers, fpeckled ir¬ 
regularly with brown ; the coverts of the under part of 
the tail are radiated tranfverfely with black and white; 
all the upper parts of the neck, of the back, of the wings, 
and of the tail, are covered with feathers of a brown ci¬ 
nereous colour, deeper in the middle, and lighter near the 
edges ; the coverts of the lower parts of the wings are of 
a dark brown, with white fpots ; the feathers of the tail 
arc barred above with narrow,lines of an obfeure colour, 
and barred below with white lines; the legs and feet "are 
cinereous bluilh; the nails are black, and the legs are 
covered half their length with feathers of a dull colour. 
Edward adds, that this bird preys chiefly upon the white 
grous. After comparing it, as thus delcribed, with the 
common buzzards, the ringtails, the harpies, and the 
moor-buzzards, it appears to differ from tlieni all^by the 
ffiape of its body, and the fliortnefs of its legs. It has 
the port of the eagle; its legs are Ihort like thofe of the 
falson, and blue like thofe of the lanner. 
85. Falco liUeatus, the red-lhouldered buzzard. Cere 
and legs yellow ; body above dulky-brown, beneath rufous 
with white and palerufty lines ; tail-feathers dulky-brown 
tranfverfe dirty-white band's and tips ; from twenty to 
twenty-two inches long. Bill blue; claws black; head 
and neck yellowilh-wlnte (Freaked with dufky lines. In¬ 
habits Long-ifland. 
85 . Falco obfoletus, the plain falcon. Body dulky- 
brown, beneath (lightly fpot'ed with white; tail-feathers 
in the middle pale brown ; two feet long. Bill black; 
nape (potted with white. Inhabits Hudfon’s-bay. 
87. F'alco rulticolus, the collared falcon. Cere, eye¬ 
lids, and legs, yellow ; body waved with cinereous and 
white; collar white; lize of a hen. Bill lead-colour; 
body beneath white, with fmail brown heart-fhaped fpots; 
tail with twelve or thirteen bands alternately white and 
brown ; claws black. Inhabits Sweden, Siberia, and 
Greenland. 
88. F'alco Novce Seelandias, the New-Zealand falcon. 
Cere and legs yellow ; body black-brown, beneath fpotted 
with reddifli; wings and tail fpotted with grey. Bill blue, 
black at the tip; irids and naked orbits blue, of the fe¬ 
male yellow ; eighteen inches long. Inhabits New-Zealand. 
89. Falco palumbarius, the gos-havvk. Cere black 
edged 
