brown; the two middle tail feathers the same; the others are marked on the inner webs with alternate bars of brown and white: legs very short and thick, being only two inches and a quarter long, and two inches in circumference; they are of a pale blue; claws black outer toe larger than the inner one, and turns easily backward, by which means this bird can more readily secure its slippery prey.

Buffon observes that the Osprey is the most numerous of the large birds of prey, and is scattered over Europe, from Sweden to Greece, and that it is found even in Egypt and Nigritia. Its haunts are on the sea shore, and on the borders of rivers and lakes: its principal food is fish; it darts upon its prey with great rapidity, and undeviating aim. The Italians compare its descent upon the water to a piece of lead falling upon that element, aud distinguish it by the name of Aquila Piumbina, or the Leaden Eagle. It builds its nest on the ground, among reeds, and lays three or four eggs, of an elliptical form, rather less than those of a hen. The Carolina and Cayenne Ospreys are varieties of this species.

(Falco Gyrfalco,* Linn.-Le Gerfaut, Buff.)

THIS is a very elegant species; length of the male twenty-two inches, of the female two feet three inches. The bill is much hooked, and yellow; iris dusky; throat white, as is likewise the general colour of the plumage, but spotted with brown; the breast and belly are marked with lines, pointing downwards; the spots on the back and wings are larger; the feathers on the thighs are very long, and of a pure white; those

In the mature state, it is the Falco Islandicus, Lath. Gmel. Gerfaut de Norwège, Buff. White Jer-Falcon, Lath. Collared Falcon, Arct. Zool.

of the tail are barred: the legs are pale blue, feathered below the knee. This bird is a native of the cold and dreary climates of the north, and is found in Iceland, Norway, Russia, and Baffin's Bay: it is never seen in warm, and seldom in temperate climates; it is found, but rarely, in Scotland and the Orkneys. Buffon mentions three varieties of the Jer-Falcon; the first is brown on all the upper parts of the body; and white, spotted with brown, on the under. This is found in Iceland: the second is very similar to it; and the third is entirely white. Next to the Eagle, it is the most formidable, active, and intrepid of all rapacious birds, and the most esteemed for falconry. It is transported from Iceland and Russia into France, Italy, and even into Persia and Turkey; nor does the heat of these climates appear to diminish its strength, or blunt its vivacity. It boldly attacks the largest of the feathered race; the Stork, the Heron, and the Crane are easy victims: it kills hares by darting directly upon them. The female, as in all other birds of prey, is much larger and stronger than the male, which is used in falconry only to catch the Kite, the Heron, and the Crow.

(Falco peregrinus, Linn.-Le Faucon pelerin, Buff.)

THIS bird has greatly the look of the Hobby Hawk, but is much larger: length eighteen inches, breadth three feet six and a half inches, weight two and a quarter pounds. The bill is pale blue, tipped with black; it is short, strong, and much notched. The irides are dark; orbits and cere yellow: the head, hinder

The female in falconry is called a Falcon, the male a Tercel; the female yearling is termed a red Falcon, the male a red Tercel, and when thoroughly docile is called Gentle or Gentil Hawk. This is the Lanner of the British Zoology. Captain Sabine includes the Falco communis of Gmelin and the French naturalists, among the synonymes of the Peregrine.

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part of the neck, and cheeks, are brownish black, with a stripe of that colour falling down from the cheeks and corners of the mouth, before the auriculars, on each side of the throat. The upper plumage is dingy bluish ash, more or less clouded and barred with dark brown, and the shaft of each feather black. The bastard wing, and the primary and secondary quills appear at a first glance to be of an uniform plain dark ash coloured brown, but on a nearer inspection, the whole are seen to be barred with darker spots, and tipped with dull white. The rump and tail coverts are more distinctly barred, and of a lighter colour than the other upper parts. The tail, which consists of twelve feathers, is a dark dingy ash, barred or spotted with brownish black, and tipped with pale brown or dirty white. The under parts of the plumage are pale clay colour, plain on the auriculars, chin, and fore part of the neck; but towards the breast, the feathers are slightly marked with very small scratches of black, and the breast with roundish black spots. The sides, belly, and insides of the wings are dull white, beautifully and distinctly barred with dark brown; the primary and secondary quills, on the inside, are also barred, in the same way, with ash and dingy freckled white. The thighs are long, and prettily marked with small heart-shaped spots; legs and toes short, strong and yellow; claws black.

The bird from which this figure and description were taken, was a male, shot by M. Bell, Esq. of Woolsington, in the act of tearing a Partridge, March 21, 1814. Length from bill to tail sixteen inches; breadth thirty-seven inches; weight twenty-three ounces and a half.