28 
FALCONIDiE. 
RAPTORES. 
FALCON l DM. 
RED-FOOTED FALCON. 
Falco vespertinus. 
PLATE IX. FIO. II. III. 
It is a pleasure to welcome a new bird as British upon 
a claim so good as that of this species. Besides the eight 
instances of its appearance in this country recorded by 
Mr. Yarrell, others have since been noticed in the pages 
of the “ Zoologist,” by Mr. Gurney and other corre¬ 
spondents. Mr. Cockrane had the good fortune to meet 
with this species in Hungary during the breeding season, 
and by him I have been supplied with a series of the eggs 
to draw and the following very interesting information. 
The Red-footed Falcons arrive in the country about the 
middle of April, and have laid their eggs early in the fol¬ 
lowing month. They make no nest for themselves, but, 
after a fight with the lawful owners, take possession of 
those of the crow, rook, or magpie, altering or repairing 
them according to their own taste. Mr. Cockrane says, 
that he has found their eggs in a nest of Corvus corone, 
that they are sometimes even six in number, but most 
commonly four or five, <c sometimes in isolated trees, at 
other times as many as six or seven pairs in one tree, in a 
rookery, exactly as rooks in England.” Mr. Cockrane 
must have been as much surprised when he found these 
birds breeding in company as we were when we first dis¬ 
covered colonies of fieldfares in Norway. The eggs most 
nearly resemble those of the kestrel, being, however, for 
