F A t C O, 
jparency, with fomewhat of a blue tint; the yolk is of a 
beautiful faffroh colour ; and the infide of the (hell green. 
The young birds have much rufous in their plumage, 
This rare and beautiful fpecies is found in Caffraria and 
the furrounding country ; alfo in Karrow and Camdeboo. 
The male fings only in the love-feafon ; and eacli drain 
lads about a minute. “ I never heard the female fmg,” 
fays Vaillant ; “ but (he has a varied call. When I fuw 
a pair of thefe birds, and happened firft to bring down the 
male, I was certain of having the female prefently ; for, 
feeking the male with the greateft anxietvand attachment, 
her continued and mournful call direfted me every mo¬ 
ment to the places (he was vainly feeking him in; and, 
.di(regarding me, die feemed to offer herfelf willingly to 
deftru&ion. If on the other hand, I diot the female fird, 
the male kept the more on his g.uard ; he would retire to 
a tree (landing by itfelf, and continue dhging and calling 
day and night; and, if I kept purfuing him, he would 
leave that canton, and never return.” This is Vaillant’s 
faucon chanteur. 
137 . Falco Africamts, the African falcon. This fpecies 
is called by Vaillant faucon a culotte noir , the falcon with 
black plumage on the thighs. It is of an intermediate 
fize between the two preceding. The wings reach about 
two thirds of the length of the tail. The top of the head 
and the thighs are very dark brown; the wing and tail 
feathers the fame, but with a whitifh edging which fepa- 
rates them from each other. The throat is white ; the 
mantle and wing-coverts dark grey, with fome ftrokes of 
a darker colour dill down the middle of each quill. The 
front part of the body is faint red, pencilled with brown 
fpots; tiie lower belly and under tail-coverts the fame, but 
the brown fpots are fainter. The bill is formed as in the 
preceding fpecies, yellow at the bafe, the red horn-colour. 
The toes are very drong, and armed with black claws; 
the feet and legs are yellow ; the feathers of the thighs 
hang fomewhat below the knee. The eye is ha^.el-colour, 
and very brilk. The tail is rather rounded. Vaillant 
(hot one while it was devouring a leveret it had juft killed. 
The fpecies is faid to be pretty common on the Snow 
Mountains, where it is called little cock of the mountain; 
the colonids at the Cape call all the larger birds of prey 
except vultures cock of the mountain; and the fmaller 
ones they call va/k, or falcon. 
138. Falco chicquera, the chiquera falcon. This final 1 
bird of prey has the lower mandible formed like the two 
preceding. It refembles the creded fifher falcon in plu¬ 
mage, but it has no tuft. The fpecies was fird deferibed 
by Vaillant ; chicqiitra is the Indian name among the in¬ 
habitants of Chandernagore where it was (hot. The up¬ 
per mandible is doubly notched. “ The wings, in their 
natural pofition, reach about two thirds the length of the 
tail; the tail is fomewhat tapered, and rounded thefe 
three marks may be taken for the (pecific character. The 
top of the head and back of the neck are of a dark ferru¬ 
ginous red ; a.flight tint of the fame pervades the white 
of the bread, about the bill, front of the neck, and pinions 
of the wings. The under parts of the body confid of dark- 
grey ftreaksupon a white ground. The mantle is a light 
(late-colour, which is the ground colour of all the wing 
and tail feathers ; they are moreover driped tranfverfely : 
a broad black bar goes acrofs the end of the tail, but the 
tip is reddidi white. The bill is pale yellow, but black 
at the tip ; the feet and eyes a bright yellow. Its man¬ 
ner of living is not known. 
139. Falco badius, the brown hawk. Legs pale ; head 
and body above brown, beneath white with yellow lunular 
fpots; tail pale brown with four paler lines. Thirteen 
jnches long; bill blue, black at the tip ; irids yellow ; 
wing-coverts white at the edges; (houlders (potted with 
white ; claws black. Inhabits Ceylon. 
140. Falco aquilinus, the red-throated falcon. Cere 
and legs yellow ; body above blue ; beneath reddidi- 
vvhite ; neck purplifh-red. This bird is found at Cayenne, 
and other parts of South America. It is fcarcely fixteen 
Vol. VII. No. 419. 
193 
or eighteen inches long ; and is diflinguifhed at the fiifi 
glance by a purplifh red (pot under its neck and throat. 
141. Falco fitfcus, the American brown hawk. Cere 
cinereous; legs yellow 1 ; body waved with black, above 
afhy-brown, beneath whitifh. Size and appearance of the 
fparrow-hawk ; bill pale lead-colour; crown and Tides ot 
the head with longitudinal white lines; belly reddifit- 
brown ; tail afhy-brown with three tranfverfe pale brow n 
firipes, tip paler; claws black. Inhabits America. 
142. Falco nifus, the fparrow-hawk. Cere green ; legs 
yellow; belly white waved witli grey ; tail with blackifli 
bands. The fparrow-hawks continue the whole year in 
our climate ; and are numerous. They are nearly the 
fize of a jay. The female is much larger than tire male ; 
(lie builds her nefton the loftleft trees, and generally lays 
four or five eggs, which are fpotted with a yellow reddifh 
near the ends. The fparrow-hawk is docile, and can be 
ealily trained to falconry. It catches pigeons that (tray 
from their flocks, defiroys abundance of game, and com¬ 
mits prodigious devaftation on the chaffinches, and other 
fmall birds which flock together in winter. It is proba¬ 
ble that the fparrow-hawk is more numerous than we 
fuppofe ; for it appears at certain fealons to migrate in 
itnmenfe bodies to other countries ; and the fpecies is 
found fcattered in the ancient continent, from Sweden to 
the Cape of Good Hope. Belon, to prove the migration 
of thefe birds, fays, “ We were at the mouth of the 
Pontus Euxinus, where begins the ftrait of the Propontis : 
we afeended the higheft mountain, and found a bird- 
catcher very fuccefsfully employed ; and, as it was about 
the end of April, when no birds can build their nefts, we 
thought it flrange that fo many kites and fparrow-hawks 
fliould flock thither. The bird-catcher was very afliau- 
ous, and fcarcely allowed one to efcape ; he caught more 
than a dozen in an hour. He was concealed behind a 
bufli, and in front, about two or three paces diftant, lie 
had conftrufted a clofe fquare area meafuring two paces ; 
round it were fixed fix ftaffs, three on each fide, an inch 
thick, and about a man’s height, and on the top of each a 
notch was cut ; a very fine green net was faflened to thefe 
notches, and fpread a man’s height from the ground ; in 
the middle of the fpace yvas a (lake of a cubit high, and 
to the top of which was attached a cord that led to the 
perfon concealed behind the buffi ; to this cord feveral 
birds were faflened, and fed on grain within the area. 
When tlie bird-catcher perceived the fparrow-hawk ad¬ 
vancing from the fea, he feared thefe birds; and the 
fparrow-hawk, whofe fight is fo keen as to defery them 
at the diftance of half a league, (hot with expanded wings 
to feize his prey, and in the eagernefs and rapidity of his 
motion was entangled in the net. We could not conceive 
whence the fparrow-hawks came, for, during the two 
hours that we (laid, more than thirty were caught, l ive 
kites and fparrow-hawks arrived in a chain that extended 
as far as the eye could reach. There are two varieties 
belonging to it. Fird, The fpotted (parrow-hawk. Its 
back is earthly coloured, fprinkled with white fpots ; the 
under part of the body is fquamous, and more deeply 
ftained ; the under furface of the wings and of the tail is 
varied with broad white zones, and dirty narrow firipes. 
Secondly, The white fparrow-hawk, which has been kil¬ 
led in England. 
143. Falco nifus Africanus, the gabar, or African fpar-. 
row-hawk. This fpecies much refembles the linging fal¬ 
con in plumage ; but it is about the fize of the European 
fparrow hawk : its wings are very fiiorr, not reaching be¬ 
yond the upper tail-coverts. In (hort, the African fpar¬ 
row-hawk is totally diftinci: from that of Europe, which 
lafi Vaillant never met within any part of Africa, though 
Kolbe fays he law it at the Cape. Strange it is indeed to 
obferve, that, of all the European birds which Kolbe met 
with at the Cape, Vaillant never fuw one ; and of all thoie 
which Vaillant found to be common to both parts of the’ 
world, without the flighted variation in colour or mode 
of living, Kolbe fays not a word 1 The gabar, as obferved 
3 D before. 
