R E D -F O O T E D FALCON,
RED-FOOTED FALCON.
FALCO VESPERTINUS,Linn.
Falco vespertinus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 129 (1766) ; Macg. iii.
p. 313; Hewitson, i. p. 28; Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 69;
Dresser, vi. p. 93.
Falco rufipes, Naum. i. p. 311.
Faucon Kobez, French; Rothfuss-Falke, German.
This very beautiful little Falcon is an irregular and
uncommon visitor to the British Islands, in all probability
for the good reason that these Islands lie far to
the westward of its breeding-haunts and its accustomed
routes of migration. To the Ionian Islands, where I
first made the acquaintance of this species, it is a
regular and, in some years, a very abundant vernal
visitor; but, so so far as I was able to ascertain, in
Corfu it only remains for a few days. I once fell in
with a small flock of Red-footed Falcons on the shores
of the Lake of Geneva in May 1851; I saw one on
wing in Andalucia in the early summer of 1884, and
found it in considerable numbers on one occasion only
in Cyprus, near Limasol, on May 6th, 1875.
This bird is eminently gregarious in habits, and in