2 1 . F alco p e r e g r in u s ................................................................................................................. I* X V I I .
P e r e g r in e F alcon.
Besides Great Britain, the Peregrine frequents Greenland, Iceland, the whole o f Europe, North Africa,
India, and China.
The following note, illustrative.of one o f the habits o f this bird, kindly communicated to me by the Duke
of Argyll, will prove o f interest. I t is dated from Inverary, Ju n e 4, 18C8. “ I find we are rich this year in
nests o f the Falconidce:— two o f the P e reg rin e ; two o f the Hen-Harrier, and a third, the spot not yet
discovered; and one o f the Merlin. One o f my keepers, who is, I think, a reliable man, tells me th at the
day before yesterday, when he was watching one o f the Peregrines’ nests, he saw the male come from across
Loch Fyne with a bird in his talons. When he cried, the hen bird came out o f the precipice and joined him
in the air, and took from the male the bird he was carrying. This must have been a pretty sight.”
22. F alco su b b u t e o . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. I. PI. XVIII.
H obby .
A summer bird in our islands, where it breeds in woods, either in the forsaken nest of a Crow o r in one
which it builds for itself. I have received Hobbies from other countries besides Britain and the continent
of Europe, viz. India, China, and Africa, but not from America, where, indeed, it is not found. This bird
and some others o f the same form have been deemed sufficiently distinct from the other Falcons to constitute
it the type o f a separate gen u s; by those authors, therefore, who adopt minute divisions o f genera, it is
termed Hypolriorchis subbuteo, instead o f Falco subbuteo. It is less bold and sanguinary than the Peregrine
or the Merlin, feeds on insects to a considerable extent, particularly Chafers, and consequently is somewhat
crepuscular in its habits, such large insects being principally obtainable as they flit round the tops o f great
trees after sunset.
23. F alco jesalon Vol. I. PI. XIX.
M e r l in .
This bird has also been removed by Professor Kaup frojn the genus Falco into that o f jF salon, a division
which, being a very natural one, the scientific ornithologist will not rep u d iate ; but in a work on our native
birds these minute divisions are scarcely admissible, since the finding o f so many of their old friends under
new appellations could scarcely be otherwise than distasteful to my readers. In many instances where I have
departed from the practice of the older naturalists, I have been not lightly censured for the innovation; but
the time will come when the generic appellation bestowed upon each distinct form wdl he more generally
adopted.
The Merlin o f the British Islands is by no means the only representative of the genus /Esahm ; for there
are several very distinct species in other countries, the names of which would be given were I writing a work
on general ornithology instead of one on the birds of a limited area.
The F. resalon is a resident species, and very generally dispersed over the three kingdoms.
Genus E ry thro pu s.
At least two species of this elegant form are known. Of these, one, E . rasperrinus, is a native of South
and South-eastern Europe, but occasionally wanders into B ritain; the other, E . anrnren.«, is found on the
Amur, in Nepaul, and over the greater part of South-eastern Africa. In disposition these birds are less
sanguinary than the true Falcons ; and their food consists principally of insects and their larvae.
Vol. I. PI. XX
2 4 . E ryth ro pus v e s p e r t in u s ...........................................................................................
O range-leg ged H obby.
Although truly but an accidental visitor, at least thirty specimens have from time to time been killed in
the British Islands, the greater number in England-Ireland and Scotland contributing only one each.
Genus T in n u n c u lu s .
The birds trivially termed Kestrels comprise many species which are very generally dispersed over the Old
World, Australia not excepted. In the New they are less numerous; and those that are there found have
been formed by Professor Kaup into a distinct genus, that of Precilorms.
Vol I. PI. XXI.
2 5 . T in n u n c u lu s alauda r iu s . . • • • • •
K e s t r e l .
The “ Windhover,” as this bird is also termed, is so well known to every one who visits the country and
“ has eyes to see, and a mind to observe,” that any special comment respecting it is unnecessary. The
whole of Britain, the continent o f Europe, Africa, India, and China are also frequented by it. Its food is
much varied; for it eats insects, mollusks, fish occasionally, and the young of most of the field-loving birds
which nest on the ground, and, when opportunity offers, does not object to the young of the Partridge and