Hawks, properly so called.
Beak short and curved from its base ; a sharp denticu lation on each side of the upper mandible, which fits into a corresponding notch in the lower ; legs robust ; toes strong, long, and armed with hooked and pointed claws; tarsi short ; wings long and pointed, so as to weaken their efforts in a vertical direction, rendering their flight, in a tranquil-atmosphere, very oblique, and constraining them, when they are desirous of rising directly, to fly against the wind. As most of them are endowed with a certain degree of docility, and are capable of being trained to the diversion of falconry, they have been denominated noble birds of prey. They show great address and activity in surprising and seizing their prey, and build their nest among the crevices of rocks or forsaken ruins. The accurate discrimination of the species is attended with considerable difficulty ; and Temminck proposes as the least fallible cri teria, the measurement of the total length, the length of the wings compared with that of the tail, and the colour of the feet, core, and eyebrows.
F. peregrinus, Temm. Gmel. Lath. ; F. abietinus, Bechst ; F. communis, of various authors; Peregrine or Common Falcon. Brown above, with rufous undulations; tail marked with dusky bars; breast and belly whitish, with dusky spots. The length of the mature male is a foot and two or three inches, and that of the female a foot and four or five inches, with three feet and a half of ex panse of wing.
This falcon is a native of the temperate and colder parts of Europe, ranging from Iceland to the islands of the Mediterranean, frequenting high and rocky mountains, and building its nest, about the end of February, in pre cipitous cliffs, with a southern aspect. The eggs are ge nerally three or four, and white, spotted with brown. It is rarely found in champaign countries, and never in those of a marshy description. It abounds in Germany and France, is pretty common in Holland and England, but is seldom met with in Switzerland. There is hardly any part of our coasts from north to south, where the cliffs rise to three or four hundred feet, in which they are not found scattered in the breeding season, and from which they seldom retire, except as occasional migrants, or when the young are driven to seek for fresh quarters.
The insulated rock on which the castle of Dumbarton stands has been particularly quoted for a breed of the pe regine falcon. So rapid is the growth of the young, that in three months they are said to equal their parents in size. We may also remark, that they are very courageous birds, darting suddenly, perpendicularly, and with great rapidity, on their prey, which principally consists of partridges, pheasants, quails, wood-pigeons, &c. and the smaller quadrupeds- They also attack the kite, and compel it to relinquish its victim, but spare its life, as if in contempt of such a dastardly adversary. Various instances are record ed of their fleetness of flight ; thus one that eloped from its master, in the county of Forfar, on the 24th of Sep tember, 1772, with four heavy bells at its feet, was killed on the the morning of the 26th of the same month, at Mostyn, in Flintshire. Another belonging to a Duke of Cleves, flew out of Westphalia into Prussia in one day ; and, in the county of Norfolk, one was known to make a flight at a woodcock of nearly thirty miles in an hour. A still more remarkable example is that of a falcon which belonged to Henry IV. king of France, and which, having escaped from Fontainebleau, was found, twenty-four hours after, in Malta, the space thus traversed being not less than 1350 miles, and corresponding to a velocity of fifty-seven miles an hour, supposing the bird to have been on wing the whole time. But, as these hawks never fly by night, such a rate of progress would amount to miles an hour, supposing the day to have been at the longest, or to have lasted eighteen hours. It is probable, however, that he neither had so many hours of light in the twenty-four, nor that he was retaken the moment of his arrival, so that we may fairly conclude much less time was occupied in performing such a dis tant flight.