INTRODUCTION.

Subfamily FALCONIN

Genus Fa.co.

The members of this genus are preeminently bold, courageous, and sanguinary, many of them,

the air birds much larger than

ly the Gyr Faleons and Peregrines, not hesitating to attack in

especial

Be ee ie > . ime immemorial, their courag
themselves; and when trained for hawking, as they have been from t1 ae age and

daring is so much enhanced that they will engage with birds of even larger size than they do in their
c py Nis) te) ’ od

wild state. Structurally they are better adapted for a quick and arrow-like flight than any other of the
Raptores.
One or other of the numerous species of this group inbabit nearly every portion of the globe. The

Gyr Falcon and its immediate allies are almost solely confined to the high northern regions, whence they

migrate during autumn and winter towards the equator, but never across It.

The Peregrines are much more generally dispersed than the Gyr Falcons, the various species frequenting
most countries both north and south; thus the form exists in Europe, Asia, and Australia, in Africa also
from the Atlas range to the Cape of Good Hope, and in America from the latitude of Hudson's Bay to
Tierra del Fuego. The smaller Falcons, such as the Hobby and Merlin, are also more or less represented

in each country, but generally, although not exclusively, are of different species.

15. Fatco 1sLanpus : : ; : : : : : : : : : Vol. I. BEXG

IceLanp Faucon.

The subject of the great northern Falcons will be found so fully treated of in the body of the work that it
would be mere tautology to say more here than that this bird is, as its name implies, a native of Iceland,
and, but more sparingly, of Greenland. It is also said to be found in Hudson’s Bay and other of the
extreme northern parts of America. Occasionally adults, but more frequently young birds of the year,

wander as far south as the British Islands.
16. Fauco tsuanpus : y : Volz EF BPE il

IcELAND Fatcon (young).

Appears > darkly c ered a
ppears to be darkly coloured from the nest, but never so deep in tint as that of the true Gyr Falcon.