F A L 
legs are long and flender, and of n pale yellow ; toes the 
fame colour armed with black claws. The fpecimen from 
which Vaillant defcribed this fpecies he fuppofes to have 
been a young bird which had not completed its fecond 
moult, on account of its variegated appearance, and the 
intermixture of brown, black, and white, feathers, and 
more particularly becattfe the two wings did not prefent 
the fame dirtribution of colours, a certain mark of an un- 
fiuiftied moult. He is of opinion that the tchoug, when 
at its full growth, will have the head, neck, mantle, and 
wings, entirely black ; the reft white. Vaillant is farther 
of opinion that this fpecies inhabits the Cape as well as 
Bengal. 
126. Falco pygargus, the ring-tail falcon. Cere and 
feet yellow ; body cinereous ; lower belly palifti, with 
rufous oblong fpots; orbits white. This bird relembles 
the Saint Martin in its inftin'Cts and habits ; both fly 
low to catch field-mice and reptiles ; both haunt the 
places where poultry is kept, to feize young pigeons and 
chickens ; both are ignoble birds, which attack only the 
weak and feeble. The male is diftinguiflied by the want 
of a collar of fmall feathers bridled round the neck. Both 
this and the St. Martin are involved in obfeuriry, arifmg 
from the oppolite opinion of naturalifts ; fomeunaintaining 
that the former is only the male of the latter, while others 
confider them as of different fpecies. 
127. Falco I-Iudfonius, the Hudfon’s-bay ring-tail. Cere 
and legs yellow ; back brown ; eyebrows white; fhield on 
the wings bluifh. Twenty-one inches long. Bill and claws 
black; body beneath white with reddifh-brovvn fpots; 
two middle tail-feathers brownifti, the outer ones white, 
the reft bluifti-afli ; all with tranfverfe brown (tripes. In¬ 
habits Hudfon’s-bay. It is doubtful whether this be not 
the F. communis ater. 
128. Falco Buffoni, the Cayenne ring-tail. Cere blue ; 
legs yellow ; body above chocolate, beneath reddifti-butf; 
eyebrows yellow ; tail with pale anu dulky-brown fpots. 
Two feet long. Bill and claws black ; primary quill fea¬ 
thers within dufky, without alhy-blue with brown bands, 
fecondary paler ; tail-feathers white at the tip. Inhabits 
Cayenne. 
129. Falco uliginofus, the marfti-hawk. Cere and legs 
orange; body above brown, beneath fhining rufty ; tail 
with four black bands. Inhabits Jamaica and Pennfyl- 
vania during fummer only; lives in fens, and feeds on 
final 1 birds, repiles, and lerpents. 
130. Falco lithofalco, the ftone falcon. Cere yellow; 
body above cinereous, beneath reddiftt with longitudinal 
brown fpots ; tail cinereous, growing black towards the 
tip and terminated with white. Inhabits Europe. This 
bird is not fo large as the keftrel, and appears very like 
the merlin, which is employed in falconry. It lodges 
and breeds, as we are told, in rocks. Frifch is the only 
naturalift who has given a diftinCt defeription of it; and, 
upon a comparifon of his figure with thofe of the keftrel 
and merlin, we are much inclined to believe, that the 
ftone-falcon and the fpecies of the merlin tiled in falconry 
are the fame, or at leaft clofely related. It is about the 
fize of the keftrel, and twelve inches one-fourth long. 
131. Falco montanus, the mountain falcon. Legs yel¬ 
low ; body above afhy-brown ; chin and throat fpotted 
with whitifli ; tail cinereous at the root, blackifh in the 
.middle, white at the tip. Bill and claws black ; fpots on 
the neck fometimes rufty fometimes black ; neck and bread: 
fometimes wholly black. Inhabits Europe. The variety 
lias tlie body cinereous above, w hite beneath ; two outer 
tail-feathers white. 
132. Falco tinnunculus, the keftrel. Cere and legs 
yellow ; back purplifli-red with black fpots; breaft with 
brown (freaks; tail rounded. The keftrel is one of the 
inoft common of the birds of prey, and terrifies all the 
fmall birds, on which it (hoots like an arrow, and leizes 
them with its talons; or,, if it miffes the firft dart, it pur- 
fues them without fear even to the houfes. After it lias 
deemed its prey, it plucks the feathers neatly ; but it is 
CO. 191 
not at fuch pains with mice, for it fwallows them entire. 
The foft parts of the carcafe are digefted in the ftoniach 
of the bird, but the (kin is rolled into a ball, and rejected 
at the bill. The keftrel is a handfome bird : its fight is 
acute, its flight eafy and well fupported : it has pcrfevc- 
rance and courage, and refembles in its inftindt the noble 
and generous eagles. The female is largeft ; her head is 
ruft-coloured, the tipper fide of her back, wings, and tail, 
marked with crofs bars of brown, and all the feathers of 
the tail are of a rufty brown varioufty intenfe ; but in the 
male, the head and tail are grey, and the upper parts of 
the back and wings are of a vinous ruft colour fprinkled 
with a few fmall black fpots. Though this bird habitually 
frequents old ruins, it breeds feldomer in tliefe than in 
the woods: and, when it depofits its eggs neither in the 
holes of walls nor in the cavities of trees, it conftruCts a 
very flimfy fort of neft, compofed of (Ticks and roots, much 
like that of the jays, upon the tailed trees of the foreft ; 
fometimes it occupies the nefts deferted by the crows. It 
lays from four to fix or feven eggs, of which tlie two ends 
have a reddifti or yeliowifh tinge fimilar to the plumage. 
Its young are at firft covered with a white down, and fed 
with infects; they are afterwards fupplied with plenty of 
field mice, which it deferies from aloft, as it hovers or 
wheels llowly round, and on which it inftantly darts. 
Sometimes it carries oft" a partridge, and often catches 
pigeons that ftray from the flock. Befides field-mice and 
reptiles, its ordinary prey are fparrows, chaffinches, and 
other fmall birds. As it is more prolific than raoft of the 
rapacious tribe, the fpecies is more numerous and wider 
diffufed ; it is found through the whole extent of Europe, 
from Sweden to Italy and Spain, and it occurs even in the 
more temperate parts of North America. It was formerly 
trained in Great Britain to catch fmall birds and young 
partridges, but laid afide when falconry fell into difufe. 
It is frequent in the deferts of Tartary and Siberia, and 
breeds in the fmall trees fcattered through the open coun¬ 
try. It appears in Sweden early in the fpring, and departs 
in September. It is uncertain whether it penetrates farther 
north. The Greek name y.tyv^iq, which fig'nifies millet , is 
applied to the keftrel, becaufe, as Gefner conjectures, the 
plumage of this bird is fprinkled with black fpots like 
millet. The Latin appellation tinnunculus, from tinnitus, 
probably alludes to its tinkling notes. Of the German 
names, rothel geyer, means reddifti vulture; kirih falck, 
church falcon ; wind-waehel, wind-bird ; rittelwey r, rider- 
kite; wannenweyer, fanner-kite : the three laft refer to the 
fanning motion made by this bird. In Italian it is alfo 
called tittinculo, tintarello , garincl/o, canihello ; in Spanifti, 
cernicalo, or zernicalo ; it has been named in Englifh, the 
Jlonegall or Jlannel, and the windhover. There are two va¬ 
rieties : r. With grey plumage. 2. Body reddifti ftreaked 
with brown, beneath with longitudinal brown (pots ; tail 
barred with brown, tipt witli white. 
133. Falco tinnunculus montanus, the mountain kef¬ 
trel. This fpecies is very common in the colony of the 
Cape, where it iscalled reege valk , red falcon, or Jlecnvnlk, 
rock-falcon ; Vaillant calls it le montagnard. He found it 
in mod parts of Africa which he vifited ; it frequents 
mountains and rocky hills, and commonly remains in the 
quarter where it was hatched. It feeds on fmall quadru¬ 
peds, lizards, and infedtswhich breed in the rocks. And 
on the fteepeft rock jt Guilds a flat neft without any flicker 
above ; the neft eonfifts of bits of wood and grafs, and 
by no means neatly fafhioned : the eggs are from fix to 
eight in number, of the fame dark red colour as the plu¬ 
mage. Its cry is very fliarp and piercing; it repeats cri- 
cri-cri, cri-cri-cri, inceftantly, if a man or any animal ap¬ 
proaches its ordinary haunts. When they have eggs or 
young, they are very bold, and will attack any thing that 
approaches the neft. The mountain keftrel is fomewhat 
larger than the common one ; the tail is not fo tapered, 
and the wings reach only to the middle of the tail ; while 
the European keftrel has wings longer than the tail iti'elf. 
The, tail of the mountaineer is light red,'crofted with a- 
