hand, their length of wing fits them for a continuous flight, and enables them,
when they have attained the weather gage, to shoot down on their prey with an
almost unerring aim and the rapidity of lightning. Their tarsi are of medium
length and are strong; and their toes, which are comparatively long, though
sufficiently robust, are strengthened by a short membrane, which connects the first
phalanges of the anterior ones, and is most conspicuous between the two outer
ones. The claws are strong, sharp, and curved, and are well adapted to the mode
in which these birds kill their prey, which is by a stroke of the foot. There are
some prominent tubercles on the under surface of the toes, probably intended to
act as cushions in preserving the toes in the proper degree of curvature when in
the act of giving the stroke.
The European Peregrine Falcon, or, as it is termed provincially in England, the
“ Duck-hawk,” “ Haggard,” or “ Blue-backed Falcon,” was held in high esteem as
long as the art of falconry was cultivated, the female being most prized and employed
against larger birds; while the male, from its being one-third smaller, was
denominated a “ tiercelet” or “ tercel,” and flown only at partridges and small
game. The Peregrine is distinguished by ornithologists from the allied species,
by the length of its wings, which, when folded, are as long as the tail; by its having
the middle toe as long as the tarsus; and by its having a large black mark or
whisker descending from under the eye, for an inch or more, along the side of
the throat. In the young Peregrine this mark is less distinct, being made up
of a number of spots ; but it becomes darker and more conspicuous as the bird
advances in age: whereas, in the closely resembling species, the Lanner, the
whisker is narrow in the young bird, and vanishes entirely in the old one. It is
only the first quill feather of the Peregrine that is strongly notched, near the point
of the inner web. The European Hobby (F . sub-buteo) is an almost exact miniature
resemblance of the Peregrine, which has not hitherto been found in America.
The Peregrine being a rare bird in the wooded districts of the fur countries where
the trading-posts are established, I did not procure a specimen on the late Expeditions
s* but I have frequently seen it whilst on the march across the barren
grounds. Of the two specimens‘figured by Edwards, one was from Hudson’s
Bay, and the other was caught off the entrance of Hudson’s Straits. Captain
Parry likewise brought home several male and female specimens from the coast of
Melville Peninsula, some of which are preserved in the British Museum. It is a
summer visitor of the northern parts of America, and frequents the coast of Hudson’s
Bay and the Arctic Sea, with the barren grounds, but is very seldom seen in the
interior. It preys habitually on the Long-tailed Ducks (Anas glacialis), which
breed in great numbers in the Arctic regions, arriving in June and departing in
September. Captain Parry observed it, in his second voyage, following flocks of
the Snow Bunting on the coast of Greenland, near Cape Farewell. It frequents
the shores of New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the winter, and is celebrated there
for the havoc it makes among the water-fowl. Mr. Ord states that the Ducks,
which are struck by it, are lacerated from the neck to the rump : it gives the blow
in passing, and returns to pick up its bird. Captain King appears to have found
it at Port 'Famine, in the Straits of Magellan; so that it probably varies its
hunting-ground with the season, from one extremity of the continent of America
to the other. From the resemblance which the Peregrine has in voice and manners
to the Ring-tailed Eagle (F c h r y s a e to s the Cree Indians distinguish it
by the epithet of Apeesta-kteoo, or Little Eagle.
DESCRIPTION
Of an old male, from Melville Peninsula, lat. 68° N.
C olour of the head and shoulders blackish-brown, without spots. “ The wing coverts and
scapularies are also blackish-brown, but there are two or three narrower bars of hair-brown
on each feather. Tlje quill feathers are blackish, with faded tips ; their inner webs are
marked with about twelve transverse oval brownish-white spots ; and on their under surfaces
there are many alternate bars of white and slate-colour, the former being the broadest. The
tail coverts are lead-grey, crossed by arrow-pointed, or heart-shaped marks of blackish-brown.
The tail is barred alternately with blackish-brown and slate-colour, the subterminal band of
the former being much broader than any of the others; the bars are very distinct on its
under surface, where they are hair-brown and white. Under surface. The black whisker is
large and well defined. The throat and upper parts of the breast are white, without spots; the
rest of the under parts are white, with large longitudinal blackish-brown spots on the flanks,
and small transverse ones on the belly. The under tail coverts are crossed by distant narrow
bars, and the thigh feathers are more closely barred. Bill greenish-blue. Cere and naked
skin round the eye gamboge-yellow. Iris yellow. Legs yellow. Claws black.
F orm, &c.—Bill short and strong ; upper mandible much curved, and armed with an acute
tooth; lower mandible truncated at the tip, with a deep notch for the reception of the upper
tooth. Nostrils round, with a central point. Space between the eye and bill covered with
hair-like feathers. Eyebrow projecting; pupil large. When the wings are folded, their tips
cross each other over the end of the tail. The second quill feather is the longest; the first is a
quarter of an inch, and the third an inch shorter than the second ; the fourth is nearly an inch
shorter than the third ; and the fifth and sixth are widely apart from each other, and from
the fourth. The inner web of the first is strongly sinuated ; the webs of the second and third
are narrower towards their points, but present'no abrupt sinuation: “ Exterior edge of the
tip of the secondaries scolloped.” (Wilson.) Tail very slightly rounded. The tarsus, an inch
and three-quarters long, is feathered half an inch below the joint anteriorly ; the remainder,
E