A.

I. Genus Falco. Linnæus Syst. Nat., I. p. 124. (1766.)

General form, robust and powerful; bill, short, with the upper mandible curved, and with a distinct tooth; nostrils, circular, with a central tubercle. Wings, long, pointed, formed for vigorous and rapid flight; tail, rather long; tarsi, short, robust, covered with rounded or hexagonal scales; middle toe long, claws large, curved, and very sharp. This genus, as restricted, contains from fifteen to twenty species, found in various parts of the world, several of which more or less intimately resemble the Falco peregrinus of Europe, and the Falco anatum of America. They are remarkable for exceedingly rapid flight, and great boldness in attacking animals on which they prey.

1. Falco anatum. Bonap. Comp. List p. 4. (1838.) “Falco peregrinus Gm.” Wilson, Audubon and other authors.

Edwards’ Birds, I. pl. 3, 4. Wilson Am. Orn. IX. pl. 76. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 16, octavo edition, I. pl. 20. De Kay, Nat. Hist. State of New York Birds, pl. 3. fig. 8. Lembeye B. of Cuba, pl. 1. fig. 2.

Bill, rather short, strong, very sharp, with a well defined tooth in the upper mandible; wings long, legs strong, middle toe long, claws curved, sharp.

Adult. Frontal band white; top of the head, back, wing-coverts and rump, bluish cinereous; every feather crossed transversely with bands of brownish black; rump and lower part of the back lighter, and with the dark bands less numerous.

Throat, sides of the neck and upper part of the breast white, with a tinge of buff without spots, other under parts same color, with a deeper shade, and with cordate or rounded spots of black on the lower breast and abdomen, and transverse bars of the same black on the sides, under tail-coverts and tibiæ. Quills, brownish black, with transverse bars of yellowish white on their inner webs. Tail, brownish black, with transverse bars of cinereous, very pale and nearly white on their inner webs, and narrowly tipped with white.

Cheeks with a patch of black most narrow and clearly defined in the adult bird, and separated from the color of the back of the head by a white space; back of the neck, mixed with yellowish feathers, forming an irregular collar. Bill, light bluish horn color, paler at the base; legs and feet fine yellow. Sexes alike.

Younger. Entire plumage above, brownish black; nearly uniform on all parts, and with little or no appearance of the bars which are seen in the adult. Tail, uniform dark brown, with spots or irregular transverse stripes of reddish white frequently only on the inner webs. Frontal spot of white obscure, large space on the cheek, black not separated posteriorly from the same color of the head above. Under parts, white and yellowish white, every feather, except on the throat, with a wide longitudinal stripe of dark brown; the latter color prevailing on the sides and abdomen. Throat, white, nearly every feather with a very narrow central line of black. Tarsi and feet, bluish lead color.

Dimensions. Female, total length 19 to 20 inches; wing, 14½ to 15; tail, 7½ to 8 inches. Male and young smaller.

Hab. The entire eastern portion of North America, and perhaps western; Greenland? Oregon? (U. S. Ex. Exp.) Jamaica, (Mr. Gosse.) Cuba, (Mr. Lembeye.) Bermuda, (Sir W. Jardine.) Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. In the adult of this species, there is a white frontal band as in the adult of the European F. peregrinus.

It is very similar in color and general characters to that species, but is larger, and the young differ.

Audubon’s figures represent the dark-colored plumage described above as that of young or immature birds. Wilson’s figure is that of a more adult specimen, with the frontal band partially produced; but the bird in completely mature plumage, has never been figured.

This bird frequently appears in the United States, generally on the sea-coast in the autumn and winter, at which seasons, also, according to Mr. Lembeye, it visits the island of Cuba. It flies with extraordinary vigor and rapidity, and is remarkable for its bold and destructive habits.

2. Falco nigriceps. Cassin,[3] new species. The Western Peregrine Falcon.

Very similar to the preceding, but smaller, and with the bill disproportionately weaker. Very similar, also, to Falco peregrinus, but differing from both in the colors of the young bird, and in other characters. Adult. Frontal band of white, very narrow. Head and neck above, and cheeks, clear black, with a tinge of cinereous; other upper parts, bluish cinereous, every feather having transverse bands of brownish black, lighter on the rump and upper tail-coverts.

Throat and breast, pale reddish white; other under parts, lighter, with rounded spots and transverse bands of black, and with a tinge of cinereous on the flanks and abdomen. Tail above, pale bluish cinereous, with transverse bars of brownish black, and narrowly tipped with white. Patch of black on the cheek, very large, and scarcely separated from the same colors of the back of the head and neck.

Dimensions. Total length, females (of skin) about 17 inches, wing 13 to 13½, tail 6 to 6¾ inches; males, total length 14½, wing 11½ to 12, tail 5½ to 6 inches.

Younger. Entire plumage above, dark brown; many feathers, especially on the rump, tipped with rufous; tail above, brown, with a tinge of ashy, and barred with rusty on the inner webs. Under plumage pale reddish ferruginous, paler on the throat, all the feathers with broad longitudinal stripes of black, and many, also, with irregular transverse stripes of the same color, which predominates on the flanks and under wing-coverts, and which are marked with reddish white bars and circular spots. Tibia, with transverse bars of brownish black.

Dimensions. Female (of skin), total length about 17 inches, wing 12, tail 6½ inches.

Hab. Bear creek, California, (Mr. E. M. Kern.) Coast of Lower California, (Dr. Heermann.) Chili, (Lieut. Gilliss.) Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and Nat. Mus. Washington.

Obs. This bird, of which we have seen numerous specimens, appears to be distinct from Falco anatum. It is uniformly smaller than either that species or F. peregrinus, but resembles Indian or other Asiatic specimens of the latter strongly. The young differ from the young of the species just mentioned, especially in the deeper and different red color of the under parts of the body. In this character they more resemble Falco peregrinator of India, Falco puniceus of Africa, Falco melanogenys of Australia. It has also generally the cheeks as strongly marked with a black patch as the latter, and can, by that character, be distinguished from either F. anatum or F. peregrinus.

This species appears to inhabit the western portion of America as far south as Chili.

3. Falco polyagrus. Cassin, new species. The American Lanier Falcon.

General form robust; bill, rather short, very strong; tooth, prominent; wing, long, second and third quills longest, and nearly equal; tail, rather long. Female nearly adult. Narrow frontal band; line over the eye, cheeks and entire under parts, white; narrow stripe from the corner of the mouth, dark brown; some feathers on the breast and abdomen, with longitudinal stripes and spots of brown, which color forms a large spot on the flank, plumage on the sides also with spots of brown. Entire plumage of the upper parts, brown, many feathers with rufous edgings; paler on the rump; tail above, grayish brown, with transverse bars of white, and narrowly tipped with the same color. Quills, dark grayish brown, with numerous bars of white on their inner webs; under wing-coverts, dark brown, edge of wing at the shoulder and below, white, spotted with brown. The brown of the back extending somewhat on to the breast at the wing-joint. Bill, bluish horn color, under mandible yellow at its base. Large space around the eye, bare, with a narrow edging of brown on the first plumage encircling it.

Younger Female. Entire plumage brownish black, throat white, and many feathers on the under parts with edgings and circular spots of white; under wing-coverts, also, with circular spots of white; under tail-coverts with wide transverse stripes of white. Young Male? Frontal band nearly obsolete; entire upper parts, uniform brown, with narrow rufous stripes on the head; under parts, white, with a tinge of reddish yellow, and nearly every feather with a narrow longitudinal stripe of blackish brown; large spaces on the flanks brown. Tarsi and feet lead colored.

Dimensions. Female (of skin), total length about 20 inches, wing 14, tail 8 inches.

Hab. Sources of the Platte river, (Dr. Townsend.) California, (Dr. Heermann.) Puget’s Sound, (U. S. Ex. Exp. Vincennes.) Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and in Nat. Mus. Washington.

Obs. Very similar, in the two first stages of plumage above described, to Falco jugger of India, (Gray’s Illustrations of Indian Zoology, II. pl. 26, and Jerdon’s Illustrations of Indian Ornithology, pl. 44,) but larger. We have, however, never seen the young of F. jugger in the plumage of the young of our species as described above, from Dr. Heermann’s Californian specimens. This is the first species of this group of Falcons (the Laniers and Juggers) yet discovered in America, and is especially remarkable on account of its near affinity to the Asiatic species.

II. GENUS HIEROFALCO. Cuvier, Reg. An. I. p. 312, (1817.)

Size, large. Bill, short, thick, distinctly toothed, and with a slight festoon; wings rather shorter than in Falco; tarsi and toes shorter, the former covered with small circular scales. Color of adult usually white. Contains several species inhabiting the northern regions of both continents, nearly all of which where regarded with great favor for the purposes of Falconry.

1. Hierofalco sacer. (Forster.) The American Gyr Falcon. Falco sacer. Forster, Phil. Trans. London, LXII. p. 423. (1772.) Falco fusca. Fabricius Fauna Grœnlandica, p. 56, (1780,) not Gmelin, (1788.) Falco cinereus. Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I. p. 267. (1788.) Falco grœnlandicus. Turton, Syst. Nat. I. p. 147. (1806.) Falco labradora. Audubon, B. of Am. p. 196, (name on plate pub. about 1834.) “Falco candicans. Gmelin.” Bonap. Cons. Av. p. 23. “Falco grœnlandicus. Turton,” Hancock in Ann. and Mag., Nat. Hist. II. p. 249. “Falco islandicus. Lath.” Aud. Orn. Biog. II. p. 552.

Edwards’ Birds, II. pl. 53, young. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 196, young, (but not pl. 366 which represents another species.) Schlegel, Traité de Fauconnerie, pl. (no number,) adult. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. II. pl. 10, (feathers.)

Form strong, and robust; second and third quills (in the young bird) longest and nearly equal. Adult, according to Hancock as cited above, “ground of the plumage pure white, upper parts elegantly marked with arrow shaped spots of a dark gray; under parts and head streaked with the same; wings reaching to within two inches of the end of the tail; second primary the longest.”

Young. Entire plumage, brown, tinged with cinereous on the upper parts. Throat, dull white; all the plumage of the under parts edged with and having circular spots of dull yellowish white, the rounded spots more apparent on the tibia and under tail-coverts. Quills, mottled with the same white on their inner webs; tail, with numerous (about thirteen) irregular bars of the same. “Bill and cere, pale blue; iris, brownish black. Feet, grayish blue; the under parts of the toes greenish yellow; claws dusky.” (Audubon.)

Hab. Northern America. Greenland, (Fabricius, Hancock,) Hudson’s Bay, (Richardson,) Labrador, (Audubon,) Louisville, Kentucky, (Mr. C. W. Webber.) Spec. in Mus. Nat. Hist. Soc. Charleston, S. C.

Obs. The Gyrfalcon is of very rare occurrence in the United States, though not unfrequent in the northern regions of this continent.

Mr. Hancock, whose opportunities were ample, fully demonstrates (as cited above) that the Falco grœnlandicus of Greenland, which is the present species, and the Falco islandicus of Iceland, are distinct, which appears to be assented to by all late writers. The bird, figured by Mr. Audubon as the adult of the species of which the young bird was obtained by him in Labrador, was an Iceland specimen, (Orn. Biog. IV. p. 476,) and therefore not correctly given as the American bird. We have never had the satisfaction of seeing the adult of this species; but for an opportunity of examining one of Mr. Audubon’s Labrador specimens, we are indebted to the Rev. John Bachman, D. D., of Charleston, S. C., who, with that disposition to advance the interests of Zoological Science which has always characterized him, most kindly forwarded it at our request.

Turton’s description above cited, is copied by him from Pennant’s Greenland Falcon, Arctic Zoology, I. p. 257.

III. GENUS HYPOTRIORCHIS. Boie Isis, p. 976. (1826.)

DENDROFALCO. Gray list, p. 3. (1840.)

Size small, tarsus lengthened and rather slender. In all other characters much like typical Falco. Toes long, slender and furnished with sharp, curved claws. This genus includes about ten or twelve small species found in various parts of the world, and for the greater part dark colored, like the species of typical Falco.

1. Hypotriorchis columbarius. (Linn.) The Pigeon Hawk. Falco columbarius. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 128. (1766.) Falco intermixtus. Daudin, Traité d’Orn. II. p. 141. (1800.) Falco temerarius. Aud. B. of Am. I. p. 381. (1831, plate pub. 1829) “Falco æsalon. Temm.” Rich. and Sw. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 37.

Cat. Car. pl. 3. Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. pl. 11. Wils. Am. Orn. II. pl. 15, fig. 3. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, pl. 25. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 75, 92. Oct. ed. I. pl. 21. De Kay, Nat. Hist. N. Y. pl. 4, fig. 9.

Small, head and body broad and strong, bill short, wing pointed with the second and third quills longest, tail slightly rounded, tarsi and toes slender. Adult male. Entire plumage of the upper parts dusky slate color, inclining to bluish, every feather with a black longitudinal line. Forehead and throat white, other under parts pale yellowish or reddish white, every feather with a narrow longitudinal stripe of brownish black, plumage of the tibia, light rusty red, with narrow stripes of black. Quills black, with transverse bands of white on their inner webs, and narrowly tipped with ashy white, tail above light bluish cinereous tipped with white, and with a wide subterminal band of black, and with several other narrower bands of black, inner webs nearly white. Cere and feet yellow, bill blue.

Middle age or winter plumage? Entire upper plumage, brownish black, slightly mixed with rufous on the head and neck behind, white of the face, and under parts more deeply tinged with reddish yellow, dark stripes wider, plumage of the sides, with wide transverse bands of brownish black, predominating on some feathers, and the yellowish white, assuming the form of circular spots. Tail dark brown, nearly black tipped, and with four bars of white, upper tail coverts with spots of white at their bases. Feet yellow.

Younger and adult female? Entire upper plumage, dusky brown, quite light, and with a tinge of ashy in some specimens. Head above with narrow stripes of dark brown and rusty red, and in some specimens, many irregular spots and edgings of the latter color, on the other upper parts. Forehead and entire under parts white, with longitudinal stripes of light brown. Plumage of the sides and flanks light brown, with pairs of circular spots of white, tibia white, with dashes of brown, tail above and below pale brown, with about six bands of white. Neck behind with a distinct band of white.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin,) females, 12 to 14 inches, wing, 8 to 9, tail, 5½ inches. Male. Total length, 10 to 11 inches, wing, 7½ to 8, tail, 5 inches.

Hab. North and South America. Wisconsin, (Dr. Hoy.) California, (Mr. J. G. Bell.) Oregon, (Col. M’Call, Dr. Townsend.) Cuba, (M. de Sagra.) Jamaica, (Mr. Gosse.) New Granada, (M. Parzudaki.) Bermuda, (Sir. W. Jardine.) Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. The adult of this species is with difficulty distinguishable from the European H. æsalon, but we have never seen the latter in the nearly black plumage, which we regard as characterizing the young or winter plumage, of the American bird. The light, “liver brown” plumage, represented by European authors as the female of F. æsalon, frequently occurs in this bird, and is given by Rich. and Swains. in Fauna Boreali Americana, Birds, pl. 25. The adult which appears to be Falco temerarius, Aud., is figured in B. of Am. pl. 75, the other figures by Aud. pl. 92, and Wilson’s plate, represent this bird in the dark plumage as described above.

Adult specimens from Western America, even more closely resemble the European species, but differ from the Eastern American only in small and scarcely describable particulars, as the slightly greater extent of the white front, or the greater purity of the white of the throat and breast. We regard the stage of plumage above described as that of the female, (and as figured by Rich. and Swains.) principally on account of its analogy to the female of the nearly allied European species.

This bird is of frequent occurrence in the United States. The largest specimens that we have ever seen are from Oregon, and may prove to be of a distinct species, though we cannot at present, determine.

IV. GENUS TINNUNCULUS. Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. I. p. 39. (1807.)

CERCHNEIS. Boie Isis, p. 976. (1826.)—POECILORNIS. Kaup Class. der Savg. und Vog, p. 108. (1844.)

Size small, tarsus and toes lengthened, slender. Colors generally more or less rufous and white. In all other respects similar to typical Falco. This genus comprises about twelve very handsome species of small size, inhabiting various countries.

1. Tinnunculus sparverius. (Linn.) The Sparrow Hawk. Falco sparverius. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 128. (1766.) Falco dominicensis. Gm. Syst. Nat. I. p. 285. (1788.) Falco gracilis, cinnamominus and isabellinus. Sw. Cab. Cy. p. 281. (1838.)

Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. pl. 12, 13. Cat. Car. pl. 5. Buff. Pl. Enl. 465. Wilson Am. Orn. II. pl. 16, fig. 1, and IV. pl. 32, fig. 2. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, pl. 24. Aud. B. of Am. pl. 42. Oct. ed. I. pl. 22. Nat. Hist. N. Y. Birds, pl. 7, fig. 16.

Small, wings moderate, tail rounded. Adult Male. Frontal band, space including the eyes and throat, white; spot on the neck behind, two others on each side of the neck, and line running downwards from before the eye, black. Head above, and wing coverts, bluish cinereous, the latter usually spotted with black. Spot on the top of the head, the neck behind, back, rump, and generally the tail above, light rufous or cinnamon red. Under parts generally a pale shade of the same color, frequently nearly white, but sometimes nearly as dark as the back, and always with more or less numerous circular, or oblong spots of black. Quills brownish black, with white bars on their inner webs. Tail tipped with white, sometimes tinged with rufous, and with a broad subterminal band of black, frequently with several of the outer feathers, white tinged with ashy, and barred with black. Bill blue, legs and feet yellow. Back generally with more or less numerous transverse stripes of black. Rufous spot on head, much varying in size, and sometimes wanting.

Female. Upper parts as above, and wing coverts, and tail rust red, with numerous transverse bands of brownish black, under parts with numerous longitudinal stripes, and on the sides and flanks, with transverse bands of the same color, external feathers of the tail palest, broad subterminal band on the tail, obscure or wanting. Young Male. Wing-coverts, dark bluish cinereous with large circular spots, and with bands of brownish black, all the rufous parts with broad bands of the same color, under parts with large circular spots, and wide traverse bands of black on the sides and flanks.

Dimensions. Total length, 11 to 12 inches, wing 7 to 7½, tail 5 to 5½ inches. Sexes nearly alike in size.

Hab. The entire continent of America. California, (Mr. Bell.) Mexico, (Mr. Pease.) Cuba, (M. de Sagra.) Bermuda, (Sir W. Jardine.) Chili, (Lieut. Gilliss.) Patagonia, (Ex. Exp. Vincennes.) Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

Obs. This elegant little Hawk, is one of the most handsomely colored of the Rapacious Birds of North America, and is frequently met with.

It is widely diffused, being common to all parts of the United States, and we have seen numerous specimens brought in collections from various parts of South America. The young bird has never been figured. Specimens from all parts of America are very similar, and we have seen the stages of plumage, which have been considered as indicating distinct species by eminent authors, but they do not appear to be constant, nor peculiar to any locality.