The most typical member of the Family is Falco peregrinus, the almost cosmopolitan Peregrine Falcon, of which the sub-species F. melanogenys and F. ernesti, the commonest forms from the Sunda Islands to China and Fiji, are more closely barred below, though not so broadly as F. cassini of the extreme south of America. The colour is slaty-grey above with darker transverse markings, the head and a stripe down each side of the neck being blackish, and the under parts ruddy-white banded with black. Young birds are browner, and are streaked instead of barred. Barely separable is the smaller and darker F. minor of South Africa, the Comoro Islands, and Madagascar, with its larger race F. punicus, found from Morocco along both sides of the Mediterranean to Asia Minor. F. barbarus, also of the Mediterranean region, but chiefly confined to Africa north of the Niger, and the Soudan, is distinguished by its red nape, brightest in the larger sub-species, F. babylonicus, which occurs from Babylonia to North India. The Peregrine Falcon, often erroneously called Goshawk in Scotland–a fact accounting for many British records of the latter–is for its size the most powerful of the Family; and, being one of the "noble" or long-winged forms, is much used in Falconry, wherein the male is termed "Tiercel" and the female "Falcon," as in many other species; while Hunting Hawk, "Blue Hawk," and, for the young, "Red Hawk," are names common to both sexes.

Far the most daring of our Birds of prey, the fierceness and courage are especially shewn in defence of its nestlings, both parents dashing angrily at an intruder, and, though rarely touching him, swooping down in unpleasant proximity, as he clambers along some narrow ledge or swings upon his rope. Should, however, the hen-bird, which sits very closely, have fresh eggs, she disappears on leaving them, though her consort flies wildly to and fro at some little distance, reiterating his shrill cry. Exceptionally savage adults may even strike the person; nevertheless, Skuas and certain Owls are decidedly more dangerous, whereas the ordinary Eagle is mild in comparison. The food consists of ducks, guillemots, pigeons, grouse, and partridges, varied by rabbits and so forth; yet, in spite of the undoubted damage caused to game, preservers would be wise to spare a due proportion of individuals in view of their utility in killing off the more weakly and diseased birds. The two to four eggs, usually finely blotched or thickly mottled with rich red on a creamy ground–though one is often paler or yellowish–are deposited in a hollow scraped on some bare or grassy ledge of a sea-girt or inland cliff; but occasionally nests in trees are utilized, or broken ground in northern regions. Two or more sites are often tenanted in turn. Long distances are traversed in search of food, the survivor of a pair mating again marvellously quickly, considering the comparatively scanty supply of partners.

F. peregrinator (atriceps), the Shaheen or Royal Falcon, of India, Ceylon, and Tenasserim, distinguishable by the deep ferruginous under surface and the general absence of barring, is much prized by natives for hawking, as is the docile but delicate and less courageous Lanner (F. feldeggi or tanypterus) by the Bedouins. The latter is buffish-brown, with ruddy crown and nape, a grey tinge towards the rufous-barred tail, and fawn-coloured lower parts with brown spots; it ranges from Loango and Unyamuesi in Africa as far as South Europe and Persia, and lays four eggs–lighter than those of the Peregrine–in rocks, ruins, or disused birds' nests, the Dashoor Pyramid being a well-known site. F. biarmicus, a close ally from South Africa, is nearly spotless below.

Of the genus Gennaea or "Desert Falcon," G. sacer (lanarius or milvipes), the Saker, found from North Africa and East Europe to North China, has brown upper parts mottled with fulvous, whitish crown, nape, and lower surface streaked with brown, and white markings across the tail. A swift and fairly bold denizen of open country, it is used for bustard-, gazelle- or heron-hawking by Indians and Arabs, while it also preys on hares, birds, and lizards. It deposits three or four rather pointed white eggs, blotched or spotted with various shades of red, in a nest of sticks and grass, normally placed in a tree. G. jugger, the Luggur of India and Afghanistan, differs in being greyer above and less streaked below, with rufous crown and nearly uniform tail, whereas G. mexicana (polyagrus), the Prairie Falcon of Mexico and the western United States, has the head brown. G. hypoleuca, of Australia, is grey and black, with barred tail, and dusky shaft-streaks on the whitish lower parts; G. subnigra of the same country being almost plain blackish-brown.

Much controversy has arisen concerning the noble Arctic Falcons (Hierofalco), especially those occupying Siberia and Northern America; it seems, however, most probable that three grey forms inhabit the latter and two the former region. In H. candicans, the Greenland Falcon, the prevailing colour is white at all ages, transversely marked above and spotted below with blackish; it occurs in North Greenland, Spitsbergen, Arctic Siberia and America, the Commander Islands, and Amur-land. H. gyrfalco, the Gyr- or Jer-Falcon[[141]] of Arctic America, Greenland, Scandinavia, Northern Russia, and possibly North Asia, is like a large Peregrine Falcon, but is greyer above and whiter below; H. islandus, the Iceland Falcon, of South Greenland, Iceland, North Siberia, and Arctic America is paler, having the whitish head streaked with dusky. H. labradorus, of Labrador, is dark throughout. All these species move southwards towards winter, the first three visiting Britain and the Greenland Falcon even Southern France. They are still valued in Falconry; but, though more powerful, they lack the spirit and dash of the Peregrine Falcon. The food consists of lemmings, grouse, sea-fowl, and the like; the nest of sticks, lined with softer materials, is placed on rocks or trees, and contains three or four whitish eggs mottled or completely covered with yellowish or cinnamon markings.

Fam. V. Pandionidae.–This group is especially remarkable for the reversible outer toe–recalling that of the Owls, the want of an aftershaft, and the long closely-feathered tibiae. The strong short beak is arched and decidedly hooked; the powerful feet are roughly scaled; the toes nearly equal, with no connecting membranes, but with spicules beneath; the claws sharp, curved, and rounded; the wings long; the tail comparatively short. The other structural details are as in the Falconidae. The downy young are dusky, varied with rufous; the lower breast, the abdomen, a central stripe down the back, and several on the head, being white.

Pandion haliaëtus, the Osprey or Fish-Hawk, nearly cosmopolitan in range, though local everywhere, and absent from many of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland, and America south of Brazil, is dark brown above, with the short crest, head, nape, and lower parts white; the crown being streaked with blackish, and a brown band–which becomes in the male a series of spots–crossing the chest. The bill is dusky, the cere and feet are bluish, and the irides yellow. The smaller Australasian P. leucocephalus and the American P. carolinensis barely attain sub-specific rank. A migrant to Britain, this bird formerly bred at Ulleswater, and not uncommonly in Scotland, where two or three pairs still remain. Of old it often occupied rocky islets or ruins in Highland lochs, but the nest is usually placed in other countries on trees or sea-cliffs, and exceptionally on the ground; trees being the favourite site in America, in which country colonies are sometimes formed, consisting of even three hundred pairs. The bulky flattish pile of sticks and turf, lined with moss, grass, or seaweed, is invariably placed near water, and contains three, or rarely four, whitish eggs, beautifully blotched or overspread with dark brown, crimson, or claret-colour, varied with orange, buff or grey, New World specimens being usually duller. Surface-swimming fish form the food, and magnificent indeed is the spectacle when an Osprey, after poising itself vertically aloft, descends with terrific dash and splashing plunge to rise again with its captured prey grasped in its roughened toes. The graceful flight is varied by many evolutions and spiral ascents, while the loud piercing scream is chiefly heard at the nesting-quarters.

Of fossil Falconine forms, excluding existing species, Lithornis vulturinus is found in the London Clay (Lower Eocene); from the Upper Eocene of France comes Palaeocercus cuvieri and Falco–the former possibly from England also; from the Lower Miocene of France Teracus littoralis, Palaeohierax gervaisi, Aquila, Buteo, and Milvus; from its Middle Miocene Haliaëtus and Aquila. Aquila also occurs in the American Pliocene of Nebraska and Oregon; Falco in the Italian; from the drifts of Queensland we have Necrastur alacer and Taphaëtus branchialis; from the Argentine Pampean of Lujan and the Post-Pampean of Monte Hermoso respectively Asthenopterus minutus and Foetopterus ambiguus; while the superficial deposits and swamps of New Zealand furnish a sub-fossil Circus and the giant Harpagornis moorii; and the Mare aux Songes of Mauritius Astur alphonsi.

CHAPTER V

NEORNITHES CARINATAE CONTINUED