three others, which do not enter into his list; viz. Falco Islandicus, F. eesalon,
and Buteo vulgaris ; making in all fourteen northern species. Of the remaining
seven * of his list, four f , being inhabitants of the warmer parts only of the United
States, do not require any notice from us; but the other three (Accipiter Cooperii,
Buteo Sancti Johannis, and Buteo hyemails) are said to be northern birds, although
we were not fortunate enough to procure specimens of them. We shall, on this
account, content ourselves with merely giving the short characters assigned to them
by the writer “ just mentioned. Accipiter Cooperii. Upper plumage chocolate-brown, margined with rufous;
tail ashy-brown, with four black bands ; flag feathers crossed by five or six blackish
bands; under plumage whitish, with a dusky medial stripe. Cere greenish-yellow;
irides and feet bright-yellow. Young male ? Winters in New Jersey.”
“ Buteo Sancti Johannis, black; white round the eye; tail rounded, with narrow
bands of pure white, and tipped with dull-white. Young, varied with white, brown,
and ferruginous. Winters in Pennsylvania. Rare.”
“ Buteo hyemalis. No collar round the face; wings, when closed, reaching but
little beyond the middle of the tail. Common in Pennsylvania all the winter.
P ennant, in his Arctic Zoology, enumerates twenty-nine Falconidce as inhabitants
of North America
No. 86. Sea Eagle. No. 102. Red-shouldered F.
87. Black Eagle. H.B. 103. Buzzard F.
88. Black-cheeked Eagle. 104. Plain F.
90. White Eagle. 105. Marsh F.
91. Osprey.. 106. Ring-tail F. H.B.
92. Rough-legged Falcon. 107. Winter F.
93. St. John’s F. H.B. 108. Swallow-tailed F.
94. Chocolate-coloured F. H.B. 109. Buzzardet.
95. Newfoundland F. 110. Little F.
96. Sacre F. H.B. I ’ll. Pigeon F. H.B.
97. Peregrine F. H.B. 112. Dubious F.
98. Gentil F. 113. Dusky F.
99. Goshawk. Suppl. Streaked F. H.B.
100.
Red-tailed F.
„ Golden Eagle.
101.
Leverian F.
Those with the letters H.B. affixed are expressly stated to be inhabitants of Hudson’s Bay.
* Audubon has published a figure of Astur Stanleii, which is rather a small species, but the letter-press of his work
not being yet before the public, we do not know its range or its characters.
+ Falco plumbeus, F. melanopterus, F.furcatw, and F. Pennsylvania^.
The following list, extracted from L a t h a m ’s Index Orriithologicus, contains the
species said by that author to be inhabitants of North America:
Sp. 3. Falco melanæëtus.
4. } fulvus.
5. leücocephalus.
7. ossifragus.
8. leucogaster.
12. Americanus.
17. candidus.
30. haliæëtus.
31. »* Leverian us.
33. lagopus.
41. furcatus.
47. „ buteo, var. /3.
48. variegatus.
49. borealis.
57. „ spadiceus.
58. lineatus.
59. „ rusticolus.
Sp. 61. Falco obsolete.
65. palumbarius.
66. gentilis.
69. „ Islandicus.
72. peregrinus.
74. Sancti Johannis.
75. sacer.
76. Novæ terræ.
78. „ hyemalis.
94. cyaneus, /3.
95. uliginosus.
99. „ sparverius.
103. „ fuscus.
104. dubius.
105. obscurus.
106. „ columbarius.
Suppl. ff hyemalis, var.
The subjoined wood-cuts are intended to illustrate the forms of the bills in
some of the genera of the Falconidse.
FALCO ÆSALON.
The bill of the Merlin, here represented, is short, strong, wide at the base, and gradually
becoming more and more compressed towards its tip, which forms an acute hook, that curves
down over the end of the lower mandible. The curve of the ridge from the cere to the bp
is about the quadrant of a circle, having nearly the third of an inch radius. The ridge of the
K 2