|o 6 F A L C O N .
92.
SPOTTEDTAILED
H.
N, S.
DiOCji li'TioN.
g I Z 'E o f a Sparrow Hawk,. Bill black : cere dufky-: the head),
neck, lower part of the hack, and the under parts, are cinereous
: the plumage elfewhere of a very dark lead-colour,, almoft
black.: prime quills, ferruginous on the-inner webs, but not quite-
to the end: on each tail-feather f except the two middle ones,,
which are plain) are three white fpots on the inner web only |.
the firft fomewhat above an inch from the tip; the next at.about
equal difiance between- that and the bafe; and the third nearly at:
the bale itfelf: the legs are fhort and yellow: claws black: thee
wings reach beyond the middle of the tail.
This fpecimen is in the collection of M ifs Blowefidd, who received
it from Cayenne.,
I do not find it mentioned by any author..
9$i
MERLIN. li’Emerillon, Brif. om% i. p. 38.2. N° 23..
iEfalon Bellonii Sc Aldrovandi, Rail Syn. p. 1J>
Kleinfte rothe-falck, Erifcb. t. 89.,
Merlin, Will. orn. p. 85.
.. . —Br. Zoo!. N°.63a
Br* Muf, hev*
3)«SC RIPTT 0 If»- t J 'H E length of the Merlin is twelve inches and a half: thee
fize ffcarce bigger than a Blackbird. The bill is of.a blueifhi
lead-colour: cere pale yellow: irides.very dark: head ferruginous;
each.feather marked with a blueifh black ftreak down,
the fhafe: back and wings, blueifh afh-colour, ftreaked, and
fpotted with ferruginous: the edges are of the fame colour:,
the quills are almoft black, marked with reddifh oval fpots: the
under
tinder wing-coverts are brntvn, marked with round1 white fpots:
tail five inches long, crolftd with alternate bars of dufky and
reddifh clay-colour, g e n e r a l ly from thirteen to fifteen in number;
but in o n * fpee-imen, Mr. Perimnt obferves' there were only»
eight: the breaft and belly yelloWilh white, with ottong fpots
pointing downwards : the wings reach to within art inch and half
of the end of the taib: the legs are yellow: claws black.
This defcription from the Britijh Zoology ; which informs us hhke*s.
that the fpecies- does not breed with- us, but migrates here in
October, coming into England about the fame time that the Hobby,
difappears. This was anciently ufed in falconry, and though
inferior in fize, was not fo in point of fpirit, to any of the larger
fpecies.
• I 9t-
A S the following appears a variety of the former, I think Nj[w\ osiK.
■ ^ worthwhile to defcribe it as fuch, as I cannot venture to M.
place it as a diftinft fpecies.
The length nine inches. The bill blue ; tip black; imme- Descmptio».
diately over the bill the feathers ate very pale: the forehead is
alh-colour, extending with the fame colour in a fireak over each
eye: crown of the head reddifh chefnut: on the fide of the head,
under each eye, is a broad fpace of white, nearly of a triangular
figure j this is bordered with dufky black: at the place of
the ears is a patch of dufky black: the feathers on the back are
o f a reddifh chefnut, tranfverfely ftriated with black: wing-co-
verts the fame: both prime and fecondary quills dufky, inclining
to black; the laft edged with white : the under parts of the
p 2 > bird