OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSI rv 
 
W.H.LIZARS. 
 
 LONDO NSAMUEL HIGH LEY 32. FLEtT STREET. 
 DUBLIN. W. CURRY JUN &C9 
 
I 
 
 THE 
 
 NATUBALIST'S LIBRARY. 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART., 
 
 F.B.S.E.j F.L.S., ETC. ETC. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 ORNITHOLOGY. 
 BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, PART I. 
 
 BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 HENRY G. BOHN, YORK ST., COVENT GARDES. 
 
v.'l 
 
 BIOLOGY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 G 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 MEMOIR OF SIR ROBERT SIBBALI* * 17 
 
 introduction, . . . . . dd 
 
 Raptures, or Birds of Prey, . > . 85 
 
 Vulturidae, 91 
 
 Neophron, ..... 93 
 The Egyptian Neophron. 
 
 Neophron percnopterus, Plate I. . * 96 
 
 Falconidae, 100 
 
 Eggs of Peregrine Falcon and Merlin. Plate II. 104 
 The Jer Falcon. 
 
 Falco Islandicus. Plate III. . . 107 
 The Peregrine Falcon. 
 
 Falco peregrinus. Plate IV. . . 116 
 The Hobby. 
 
 Falco subbuteo. Plate V. . . . 127 
 The Merlin. 
 
 Falco cesalon. Plate VI. . . 129 
 The Orange- Legged Falcop. 
 
 Falco rufipes. Plate VI J. . ,136 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 The Kestrel. 
 
 Falco tinnunculus. Plate VIII. . . 130 
 
 Atcipitrin Hawks, . . 147 
 
 The Sparrow Hawk. 
 
 Accipiter fringillarius. Plate IX. . 151 
 
 The Goshawk. 
 
 Astur palumbanus. Plate X. . .157 
 
 Aquilinte Eagles, . . . . 1 6'2 
 
 Eggs of Golden Eagle and Osprey. Plate XI. 163 
 
 The Golden Eagle. 
 
 Aquila chrysaeta. Plate XII. . .165 
 
 The White- Tailed Eagle. 
 
 Aquila albicilla. Plate XIII. . . 174 
 
 Pandion, . . . .179 
 
 The Osprey. 
 
 Pandion haliactus. Plate XIV. . 182 
 
 Cymindinae, .... 
 
 The Swallow- Tailed Nauclerus. 
 
 Nauclerus furcatus. Plate XV. . 189 
 
 Circinae, ....... 19*2 
 
 Eggs of Common Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, and 
 Kite. Plate XVI. . . . 194 
 
 Buteo, .... .195 
 
 The Rough- Legged Buzzard. 
 
 Buteo lagnpus. Plate XVII. . . 197 
 
 The Common Buzzard. 
 
 Buteo vulyaris. Plate XVIII. . 202 
 
 Pernis, 206 
 
 The Honey Buzzard. 
 
 Pernis apivorus. Plate XIX. . . 20H 
 
 Milvus, 216 
 
 The Kite. 
 
 Milvus regulis Plate XX. . 218 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Spixaetus, . , * . .220 
 
 The Crested Spizaetus. 
 
 Spizaetus crystateilus. Plate XXI. . 222 
 
 Circus, ... 224 
 The Common Harrier. 
 
 C" 'ircus cyaneus. Plate XXII. . . 227 
 The Ash- Coloured Harrier. 
 
 Circus cineraceus. Plate XXIII. . . i34 
 The Marsh Harrier. 
 
 Circus rufus. Plate XXIV. . , 23* 
 
 Stneida? Owls, .... "242 
 
 Rggs of Harriers and Owls. Plate XXV. . 244 
 
 Head of Barn Owl, natural size. Plate XXVI. 248 
 
 Strix, ...... 251 
 
 White or Barn Owl. 
 
 Strix Jlammea. Plate XXVII . . 253 
 
 Ulula, . 260 
 The Tawny Owl. 
 
 Ulula stridula. Plate XX\ .II. . . 263 
 
 Noctua, ..... 268 
 Tengmalm's Night Owl. 
 
 Noctua Tenymalmi. Plate XXIX. . 2/0 
 
 Scotophilus, . . .' . 272 
 The Naked- Footed Night Owl. 
 
 Scotophilus nudipes. Plate XXX. . . 274 
 
 Otus, ..... 278 
 The Long- Eared Owl. 
 
 Otus vulyaris. Plate XXXI. . . 280 
 
 The Short- Eared Owl, .... 284 
 
 Bubo, .... 291 
 The Great-Eared Owl, or Ragle Owl. 
 
 Bubo Maximus. Plate XXXII. . 293 
 
 Scops, 298 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The Scops- Eared Owl. 
 
 Scops Aldrovand. Plate XXXIII. 
 Surnia, . 
 
 The Snowy Owl. 
 
 Strixnyctea. Plate XX XIV. . 
 Tb* Hawk Owl, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 299 
 30) 
 
 303 
 314 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR ROBERT SIBBALD, 
 
 IT would be unpardonable in a work published 
 in Scotland, which professes to include biogra- 
 phical notices of all who have aided the progress 
 of Natural History, to omit the name of Sir 
 Robert Sibbald ; but we regret that, at this 
 distance of time, few facts can be recovered re- 
 specting his personal history during the latter 
 part of his life. In 1695, he committed to 
 writing an account of himself, which came into 
 the possession of Boswell of Auchinleck, Dr 
 Johnson's biographer, who contemplated the 
 publication of it, but this he never performed, 
 and the M.S. is now in the Advocates' Library 
 in this city. It has lately been printed by Mr 
 Maidment in a limited impression of a volume 
 of interesting scraps relative to Scottish history 
 
18 MEMOIR OF 
 
 published under the title of Analecta Scotica ; 
 this affords the principal authority for his life up 
 to that date. 
 
 The family of Sibbald is of great antiquity, 
 and the name frequently occurs in charters of 
 the thirteenth century. George Douglas, Earl 
 of Angus, who died in 1461, married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Sir Andrew Sibbald of Balgony, in 
 the county of Fife. Of this marriage was born 
 Archibald, Earl of Angus, father of the learned 
 Gavin Douglas, bishop of Dunkeld, the translator 
 of Virgil. In the reign, however, of King James 
 the Fourth, Sir Andrew Sibbald of Balgony, 
 sheriff of Fife, dying without sons, Robert 
 de Lundin, a younger son of the Laird of 
 Lundin, married Helena, his daughter and heiress, 
 and got the estate, still retaining the name of Lun- 
 din. In King Charles the First's reign, the estate 
 again passed into a new family, being purchased 
 by the celebrated General Alexander Leslie, 
 afterwards created Earl of Leven, by whose de- 
 scendants it is at present possessed. * 
 
 From the younger branches of the Balgony 
 family was Sir Robert descended, being the fifth 
 child of David Sibbald, " third brother to Sir 
 James Sibbald of Rankeilor, knight baronet, by 
 Margaret Boyd, eldest daughter of Mr Robert 
 Boyd of Kipps, advocate. His father was 
 
 * Sibbald's Fife and Kinross, 8vo. edition, p. 368. 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALI). 19 
 
 deputy-keeper of the great seal, while the Earl 
 of Kirwiaird held the offices of Chancellor, after 
 which he lived privately upon his own fortune." 
 He died in the year 1660, being 71 years of age, 
 and was buried in the Greyfriars churchyard 
 at Edinburgh. His son describes him as "a man 
 of mild spirit, very civil, and kind to his relatives 
 and acquaintances." His widow survived him 
 twelve years, dying at her country house, the 
 Kipps, July 10, 1672, aged 66, and was buried 
 at Torphichen in the same grave with her father, 
 over which is the following inscription : 
 " Magistro Roberto Bodio a Kipps, jurisconsuho, 
 qui ad antiquam sanguinis nobilitatem, insigneir 
 pietatis, probitatis et eruditionis claritatem ac- 
 cumulavit ; bonis probatus vixit, desideratus ad 
 caelestum gloriam transiit, 10 Julii, 1645, ^Etatis 
 septuagesimo primo." 
 
 "Sub hoc etiam conditae cippo Margareta 
 Bodia ejusdem Roberti filia primogenita et con- 
 junx Magistri Davidis Sibbaldi, fratris germani 
 Rankillorii ; in qua praeter singularem modestiam 
 et constantiam, emicuere pietas, prudentia, ct 
 quaecunque virtus matronam decebat, ab illus- 
 trissima Bodiorum genti oriundam. Nata 
 Januarii, 1606; denata, 10 Julii, 1672." She 
 appears to have been one of those numerous 
 instances on record of a pious mother carefully 
 superintending the education of her children. 
 
20 MEMOIR OF 
 
 How often, in perusing the biographical records 
 of eminent men, do we see that the first germ of 
 superior intellect has been detected by a mother's 
 vigilance that this has been fostered by a mother's 
 care, till it has produced a Bacon, a Sir William 
 Jones, a Cowper, and hundreds of others, who, 
 but for a mother's devotion, might have descen- 
 ded to the grave " unwept, unhonoured, and 
 unsung'* beyond their immediate connections ; 
 and were we to look into the private histories of 
 thousands who, though unknown to fame, have 
 been a blessing to their families, to their neigh- 
 bourhood, and to society at large, by their religious 
 and moral character, we should, in most instances, 
 trace th, origin of their domestic virtues to 
 education revived .V^m a mother. " She openeth 
 her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the 
 law of kindness." Such an one was Margaret 
 Boyd. " A virtuous arid pious mother of great 
 sagacity and firmness of mind," says her son, 
 " and very careful of my education? 
 
 Robert was born April 15, 1641, at Edinburgh, 
 near to the head of Blackfriars Wynd, and was 
 baptized by Mr William Colvill, minister of the 
 Tron Church parish. He was named after his 
 mother's father; he had two elder brothers and 
 two sisters, who all died of consumptive com- 
 plaints before they had attained four years of 
 age, which circumstance induced his father's 
 
SIR ROBERT S1BBALD. 21 
 
 brother, Dr George Sibbald, a physician, to 
 recommend that this child should be suckled to 
 an advanced age, which was accordingly done 
 " till he was two years and two months old, and 
 could run up and down the street and speak," and 
 proved of great advantage, as he not only 
 escaped the threatened malady, but "passed all the 
 diseases commonly incident to children without 
 any manifest hazard." 
 
 He was subjected, however, to other perils 
 consequent upon the political disturbances of the 
 times ; he was kept at a cousin's house at Lin- 
 lithgow at the time of the plague in 1645, till 
 the infection reached that town, when his parents 
 removed to the Kipps. " As I went there with 
 my nurse, we met a troop of Montrose's men, 
 who passed us without doing us any harm." A 
 few years later, a far greater danger awaited him. 
 His parents had removed to Dundee, where 
 they were residing at the time General Monk 
 stormed the town. His father received a blow 
 from a carbine, their house was plundered, and 
 they lost all their furniture, plate, jewels, and 
 money, and a younger sister and himself were 
 exposed to imminent risk. She had incautiously 
 exposed herself above a wooden building that 
 had been erected across the street for the defence 
 of the town, and her brother ran after her to 
 bring her back. It speaks volumes as to the 
 
22 MEMOIR OF 
 
 horrors of civil war, and the utter forgetful ness 
 of every principle of humanity that such a contest 
 involves, that two children, the one eight and 
 the other ten years of age, should be thought fit 
 objects of attack. In returning, they were fired 
 at, but providentially, the ball missed, and 
 " lighted in the street." " I took it up," says the 
 young hero, " and brought it with me." The 
 family were so reduced by this misfortune, that 
 this child had to travel on foot to Cupar, where 
 they bent their steps, having obtained a pass by 
 the sale of some meal. 
 
 At Cupar, the year previous to the unfortunate 
 removal to Dundee, Robert Sibbald had com- 
 menced his Latin education under Mr Andrew 
 Anderson ; but he appears not to have been 
 replaced with him, but to have been entered at 
 the High School of Edinburgh under Mr Hugh 
 Wallace, from whence, in due course, he went to 
 the university of his native city, of which the 
 celebrated Robert Leighton, afterwards Bishop 
 of Dunblane, and ultimately Archbishop of Glas- 
 gow, was at that time the principal. While 
 attending the college, he studied hard, shunning 
 all plays and amusements. He gave himself up 
 to the diligent perusal of every book that came 
 in his way, till he acquired the soubriquet of 
 " Diogenes in his tub" among his fellow students. 
 This discriminate reading was, in some respects, 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 23 
 
 attended with bad consequences, as it led him to 
 the study of Sir Kenelm Digby's works " with 
 great delight." Under the direction of Leighton, 
 he was put upon a better course ; but it is pro- 
 bable that his early admiration of Sir Kenelm 
 might have some influence upon his opinions at 
 the time he changed his religion, Digby having, 
 like himself, embraced the Romish faith. Be this 
 as it may, Leighton's influence and his mother's 
 both encouraged him in theological studies. The 
 latter was anxious he should enter into the minis- 
 try ; but the polemical disputes at that time raging 
 so furiously, had so completely banished all traces 
 of Christian charity from the professors of religion, 
 and Leighton had so impressed on his pupil 
 the duty of loving " all good men of any per- 
 suasion," that he preferred a mode of life that 
 would not almost necessarily involve him in the 
 factions of Church and State. 
 
 Having chosen the profession of medicine, as 
 one in which he could keep clear of party politics, 
 and be of utility to his fellow-creatures, he pro- 
 ceeded to Leyden, at that time in high repute as 
 the first medical university in the world. He 
 embarked in a Dutch frigate, March 23, 1660, 
 and remained there a year and a half, studying 
 anatomy and surgery, under Van Home ; botany, 
 under Adolphus Vorstius ; the institutions and 
 practice of medicine with Sylvius ; and chemistry 
 
24< MEMOIR OF 
 
 with Witichius, a German ; and afterwards, 
 with Marcgrave, brother of the author of the 
 Natural History of Brazil. During the college 
 vacations, he visited Utrecht and Amsterdam ; 
 and in September, 1661, he quitted Leyden, 
 through Dort, to Zealand, and by way of West 
 Flanders to Calais ; from thence to Rouen ; and 
 so to Paris. Here he continued his studies for 
 nine months, and proceeded to Angiers, remain- 
 ing there a month for the purpose of taking his 
 degree of M.D.* Having obtained this, he went 
 to Orleans, and then down the Loire to Angiers, 
 stopping at Ambois, Blois, Tours, and Somoeur, 
 on his way ; and then back by way of Chartres to 
 Paris. After a very short sojourn here, he set off 
 for England, through Rouen to Dieppe, and landed 
 at Eastborne in Sussex. He lost his father while 
 he was in Holland. 
 
 Three months he devoted to the examination 
 of London and its neighbourhood, and then pro- 
 ceeded by coach to York ; north of which city, 
 there appears at that time to have been no public 
 conveyances for the accommodation of travellers, 
 as it was necessary for him to hire from thence 
 horses and a guide to Newcastle. He was so well 
 satisfied with them, that he continued them on to 
 Edinburgh, taking the route of Jedburgh and 
 Melrose, arriving at the Scottish metropolis, 
 * Diploma dated July 17, 1662. 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 25 
 
 October 30, 1662, having been absent two years 
 and a half. Here he found his younger brother 
 George suffering severely from a dislocation of 
 the spine, occasioned by a person, in play, tossing 
 him over his shoulder five years before, a practice 
 too common, but highly reprehensible. In this 
 poor child's case, it produced an abscess ; which, 
 after years of acute pain, terminated fatally in 
 the fifteenth year of his age. 
 
 The young physician, with great prudence, 
 settled at his mother's house, determined to live 
 as economically as possible, as his means were 
 limited by a liferent his mother possessed out 
 of his father's property. His father had been 
 compelled by the misfortune at Dundee to incur 
 some debts, which were undischarged at his death ; 
 which his son, with a high sense of honour, deter- 
 mined to discharge. To encourage such laudable 
 moderation, he studied Seneca and Epictetus, and 
 other of the Stoics, which he " affected" because 
 of their contempt of riches and honours. " The 
 design," he tells us, " which he proposed to 
 himself, was to pass quietly through the world, 
 and content himself with a moderate fortune." 
 With this resolution, he commenced practice 
 among his friends, and refused fees from the 
 poor ; but courted the acquaintance of surgeons 
 and apothecaries, " carrying himself with a great 
 deal of deference and respect to them," for the 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 purpose of studying their prescriptions; and 
 though resolved to go little into society, but to 
 read much, he at this time formed some valu- 
 able acquaintances, among whom he enumerates 
 Mr Archibald Hope, (afterwards Sir Archibald, 
 and a Lord of Session ;) Mr Patrick Drummond, 
 a cousin by his mother's side, with whom he 
 carried on a correspondence on subjects relative 
 to Experimental Philosophy ; Mr James Aird, a 
 pupil of Leighton's " a serious Christian ;" and 
 Mr James Fall, afterwards doctor, and first prin- 
 cipal of thp University of Glasgow. Amidst this 
 cours^ of life, he was seized with an alarming 
 fr /er, during which his life was despaireo\ of, but 
 after a confinement of near three months, he 
 recovered, and was able to resume his practice. 
 
 About four years after this, the return of Dr 
 Andrew Balfour from France,* was the means of 
 
 * Sir Andrew Balfour was the youngest son of Sir 
 Michael Balfour of Denmiln, in the county of Fife, and 
 was born there January 18, 1630. He studied at St 
 Andrews, London, Blois, and Paris, and finally obtained 
 his diploma of M.D. at Caen, September 20, 1661. 
 Returning to London, he was introduced to King Charles 
 II. and was recommended by him to the office of travelling 
 tutor to the young Earl of Rochester, a pupil who certainly 
 reflected no credit on him ; but who, on his deathbed, 
 acknowledged the Doctor's zealous endeavours to encourage 
 him in virtuous practices, and to restrain him from vice. 
 During these travels, he diligently observed every thing 
 connected with the laws, customs, antiquities, museums, 
 
SIR ROBERT S1BBALD. 27 
 
 exciting Dr Sibbald to more particular attention 
 to the study of Natural History. They had 
 become acquainted while abroad, and congeniality 
 
 manufactures, and natural history, of the countries he 
 visited ; and after four years absence, returned in 1667 
 to St Andrews, where he commenced practice as a phy- 
 sician. He brought with him from abroad a large collection 
 of books, medals, mathematical, philosophical, and surgical 
 ru-lim-eits, pictures, busts, specimens of animals, plants, 
 and fossils, a cabinet of simples for the Materia Medica, 
 and other curiosities of nature and art. Here he first intro- 
 duced into Scotland the dissection of the human body. 
 He collected and investigated the indigenous plants of his 
 native country, and was the first to disprove the absurd 
 idea that then prevailed that the Lepasanatifera, or barnacle 
 she]], was the origin of the Barnacle goose. He was also the 
 tirst discoverer in the Scottish Seas of the Tetraodon mola, 
 or sun fish. Removing to Edinburgh in 1670, he imme- 
 diately obtained the first practice in the metropolis. About 
 this time he united with Sibbald in the establishment of 
 the Botanic Garden ; and afterwards promoted the New 
 College of Physicians ; and after twenty-three years 
 successful practice in Edinburgh, died there in 1694, aged 
 sixty-three. After his death, his library was sold, of which 
 a printed catalogue was published in 1699, and his museum 
 was deposited in the College of Edinburgh, in the hall 
 which was afterwards the old library. There it was left 
 to rot and decay, utterly neglected, till Professor Walker, 
 on his appointment to the Chair of Natural History in 
 1782, selected such specimens as time had spared, and 
 placed them in the best order he could. And possibly 
 some few memorials yet remain of what at the time Dr 
 Walker states there is reason to think was the most con- 
 siderable collection that was then in the possession of any 
 university in Europe. Professor Walker's Memoirs, 
 Essays on Natural History, pages 347, 369. 
 
28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of taste, soon ripened their intimacy into friend- 
 ship. Dr Balfour possessed an excellent library 
 on that subject ; and he pointed out to Sibbald 
 such authors as he thought most worthy of his 
 study. " I had," says the latter, " from my settle- 
 ment here, a design to inform myself of the 
 Natural History this country could afford, for I 
 had learned at Paris that the simplest method of 
 physic was the best, and those that the country 
 afforded came nearest to our temper, and agreed 
 best with us ; so I resolved to make it part of my 
 study to know what animals, vegetables, minerals, 
 metals, and substances, cast up by the sea, were 
 found in this country, that might be of use in 
 medicine, or other arts useful to human life ; and 
 I began to be curious in searching after them, 
 and collecting them, which I continued to do ever 
 since." 
 
 Sibbald introduced Balfour to Mr Patrick 
 Murray, the Laird of Livingston, a great botanist, 
 who had collected many plants, both foreign and 
 indigenous, in his garden, at his country seat, to 
 which the two friends frequently resorted. Stimu- 
 lated by his success, they resolved to establish a 
 garden of their own ; and for this purpose, they 
 rented a plot of ground about forty feet square> 
 in the north yards of the Abbey. And having 
 become acquainted with Mr James Sutherland, a 
 young man, who had acquired a knowledge of 
 
SIR KOBERT SIBBALD. 29 
 
 plants and medals,- both qualifications likely to 
 recommend him to their notice they engaged 
 him to superintend it ; arid in a very short time, 
 they had formed a collection of between eight and 
 nine hundred plants. 
 
 The design meeting encouragement from several 
 physicians of the city, who entered into an annual 
 subscription to defray the expenses, they made 
 interest with the Town Council for a lease for 
 nineteen years of the garden belonging to the 
 Trinity Hospital. This, however, excited the jea- 
 lous} of the apothecaries, who foresaw that it might 
 lead to the establishment of a College of Physi- 
 cians, and they strongly opposed the attempt ; but 
 through Dr Balfour's " dexterity," this opposition 
 was overcome, and the lease granted to Mr James 
 Sutherland, Dr Balfour, Dr Sibbald, and others, 
 being appointed by the council visiters of the gar- 
 den. These gentlemen continued their exertions, 
 and were the means not only of obtaining the sub- 
 scriptions of many of the nobility towards the 
 expenses, but also of grants of money from the 
 Exchequer, the Lords of Session, and the Faculty 
 of Advocates, by which contributions they were 
 enabled to import plants and packets of seeds from 
 abroad ; and the medical students being encou- 
 raged to send specimens from all places they tra- 
 velled to, the garden soon increased to a respec- 
 table rank. 
 
 These pleasing occupations were disturbed b> 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 a variety of domestic troubles, caused by the un- 
 fortunate marriage of his favourite sister, and the 
 commencement of a law-suit in behalf of his 
 nephew. Another source of great vexation, and 
 eventually of litigation, happened at the same time 
 respecting the division of his grandfather's estate, 
 which, upon his death, fell to be divided between 
 his two daughters. The eldest was Mrs Sibbald, 
 and the other was married to a gentleman of the 
 name of Carriber. Sibbald, who represented his 
 mother, claimed the house and lands of Kipps, 
 as descended from the eldest daughter, but this 
 Carriber disputed, and though the decision of the 
 inferior courts was in Sibbald's favour, he per- 
 sisted in carrying the case to the Court of Session, 
 which decreed that part of the property to Sibbald, 
 subject to the payment of one thousand one hun- 
 dred merks to his uncle. 
 
 The possession of this estate induced the doctor 
 to retire from town, and reside there with a view 
 to country practice. He probably, also, in this 
 step, studied his mother's comfort, who resided 
 with him there for two years, previous to her 
 death, in 1672. After that event, finding his 
 situation lonely, he began to think of marriage, 
 but was three or four years before he could deter- 
 mine on the lady. At last, " by the recommenda- 
 tion of a friend" he addressed himself to Anne, 
 second sister of Mr James Lowes of Merchiston, 
 was accepted, and the consent of her friends being 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 31 
 
 obtained, they were married on Thursday, April 
 25, 1677> he being at that time thirty-six years 
 of age, and the lady twenty-two. 
 
 This marriage, contracted under such favourable 
 auspices, was productive of but short-lived happi- 
 ness. His wife, coming from the bed-room in 
 slippers the following October, fell down stairs, 
 and miscarried of twins : on the 12th October, 
 1678, she again gave birth to a daughter, but two 
 months afterwards Mrs Sibbald caught a malig- 
 nant fever, which, in spite of the best advice, 
 terminated fatally on the llth day, being Decem- 
 ber 27, 1678. She was buried in the Greyfriars 
 churchyard ; her husband records, that " she was 
 a virtuous, and pious, and loving wife, and had 
 just kindness for all my relations, and was much 
 esteemed by them." 
 
 About this time he formed an intimacy with 
 the Earl of Perth, who, on the death of his family 
 physician, appointed Dr Sibbald to succeed to 
 that office. The Earl, being a man of literary taste, 
 frequently consulted Sibbald on topics of litera- 
 ture and science, and was earnestly persuaded 
 by him to adopt a life of philosophic retirement ; 
 but he had otherwise determined. Being poor he 
 threw himself into the court, with an intention of 
 improving his fortune, and soon obtained the 
 appointment of Lord Justice General, which was 
 followed by the Chancellorship. This change of 
 
32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 life subsequently involved his simple-minded 
 friend in serious difficulties. 
 
 One immediate consequence of that intimacy, 
 however, was a recommendation by the Earl that 
 the Doctor should add to his researches into the 
 Natural History of Scotland, an inquiry into 
 the exact geographical description of it ; and to 
 encourage him in the task, he procured from 
 King Charles II. a patent,* constituting Dr 
 Sibbald his Majesty's geographer for Scotland, 
 and another appointing him his physician there, t 
 accompanied by the King's commands that he 
 should publish both the Natural History and the 
 geographical description of the kingdom. This led 
 him to incur great expenses in buying books and 
 manuscripts likely to be of use, and in employing 
 a surveyor, and otherwise obtaining original 
 information, without any adequate remuneration) 
 as his patents were merely honorary. James 
 VII. it is true, granted him a salary of 100 
 per annum, as his physician,}: but this he only 
 received one year ; the trouble that ensued 
 probably put an end to all his expectations of 
 court favour. 
 
 In the furtherance of this work, in 1682, he 
 published and circulated throughout the kingdom, 
 
 * Dated, December 30, 1682. 
 
 t Patent, dated, September 30, 1682. 
 
 t Patent, dated, December 12, 1685. 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 
 
 certain general queries, to the number of twelve, to 
 which he solicited answers from all who were 
 competent to give information ; in addition to 
 which, he issued five sets of special queries to the 
 following classes : 1st, To the nobility ; 2d, To 
 the clergy ; 3d, To the gentry ; 4th, To the royal 
 burghs ; and 5th, To the universities and schools. 
 In reply, he received much valuable matter, par- 
 ticularly from M'Kenzie, bishop of Orkney, 
 Graham, bishop of the Isles, Mr -James Wallace, 
 minister of Kirkwall, and Mr Sympson, minister, 
 author of the account of Galloway, printed 
 in 1823, by Thomas Maitland, Esq. advocate 
 The Countess of Errol, sister to the Earl of 
 Perth, sent him a description of Brechin, 
 together with some drawings of birds, and two 
 engraved plates, the one of silver, the other of 
 copper. 
 
 This was followed, in 1683, by a Latin pam- 
 phlet of twenty pages folio, which he entitled 
 " Nuncius Sooto-Britannicus, sive Admonitio de 
 Atlanti Scotico," &c. To this is prefixed the 
 royal patent, appointing him geographer ; it con- 
 tains a plan of the proposed work, with its 
 divisions, and the titles of the various chapters ; 
 a list of the books and manuscripts he had pro- 
 cured relative to the subject, and a list of 
 books and manuscripts that he was anxious to 
 
 obtain, but had not been able to procure. Hie 
 c 
 
3* MEMOIR OP 
 
 general and special questions are then repeated, 
 which concludes the book. 
 
 At the same time, he published in English " An 
 account of the Scottish Atlas, or the description 
 of Scotland, Ancient and Modern," folio. 
 
 Dr Sibbald was highly instrumental in the 
 establishment of the College of Physicians in 
 Edinburgh, which originated in a dispute on the 
 part of a Mr Cunningham, a surgeon, with the 
 company of surgeon apothecaries, who had 
 refused him admission into their society ; in con- 
 sequence of which he raised an action in the 
 Court of Session, as to their right to exclusive 
 privileges ; upon which the judges thought it 
 necessary to take an opinion from four of the 
 principal physicians in Edinburgh, Doctors Hay, 
 Burnet, Stevenson, and Balfour : first, whether 
 the junction of the profession of surgeon with 
 that of apothecary was customary in other coun- 
 tries ; and, secondly, whether such an union was 
 beneficial or not. In an affair of so great impor- 
 tance, the gentlemen appealed to consulted with 
 the other physicians before drawing up their 
 report, and to debate the matter, they called a 
 general meeting of the profession, to meet at Dr 
 Hay's house, when they came to a resolution that 
 there was no such union of these departments in 
 other countries, and that such an union was " very 
 prejudicial," both to the public and to the physi- 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 35 
 
 dans. The business being concluded, Dr Sibbald 
 suggested, that as that was the first occasion on 
 which they had all met together, the meeting 
 might be improved for their general interest : was 
 it not possible to form a collegiate establishment, 
 not only to secure their own privileges, but to 
 resist the encroachments of these obnoxious apo- 
 thecaries ? The idea was favourably received, 
 and frequent meetings were subsequently held to 
 consider of the best mode of proceeding. 
 
 No event could have happened more favour- 
 able to their views than the arrival of the Duke 
 of York at Holyrood, followed by Sir Charles 
 Scarborough, his majesty's principal physician 
 to whom they immediately applied, and wfw 
 promised to afford them every assistance both 
 with the King and the Duke. This high patron- 
 age alarmed the corporate bodies of the city, 
 who thought themselves likely to be aggrieved 
 by the new college ; and the magistrates, the 
 university, and the surgeon-apothecaries, all 
 strenuously opposed the design, together with 
 the bishops and many of the nobility. Sib- 
 bald's influence with the Earl of Perth, and 
 his brother, Lord Melfort, however, was the 
 means of winning over many of the nobility. He 
 also recovered a warrant, upon this subject, of 
 King James the Sixth, dated July 3, 1621, 
 directed to the Commissioners and Estates of 
 
36 ME MO IK OF 
 
 Parliament, then sitting in Scotland, and a refe- 
 rence by the Parliament to the Privy Council, 
 dated August 2, 1621, authorizing them to act in 
 the business as they thought fit, and promising 
 that their determination should have the form of 
 an act of Parliament ; and producing these instru- 
 ments to the duke, he immediately pledged him- 
 self to see their claims established. The magis- 
 trates and surgeon-apothecaries still opposed the 
 new institution, and argued their objections before 
 the Privy Council. The university and the 
 bishops were soothed into compliance by a pro- 
 mise, that certain conditions favourable to them 
 should be inserted in the patent, so that they not 
 merely withdrew their opposition, but became 
 " strong solicitors " in its favour. With such 
 powerful aid, the matter was at length carried, 
 and a draught of the patent being agreed to, was 
 sent to London for the king's sign manual. The 
 day after its return, Sibbald translated it into 
 Latin, and sent it to the Court of Chancery to be 
 transcribed on parchment, and the great seal was 
 appended to it at Edinburgh, November 29, 
 1681. The names of the first fellows inserted 
 in the charter are, David Hay, Thomas Burnet, 
 Matthew Brisbaine, Archibald Stevenson, Andrew 
 Balfour, Robert Sibbald, James Livingston, 
 Robert Crawford, Robert Trotter, Matthew Sin- 
 clair, James Stewart, William Stevenson, Alex- 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 37 
 
 ander Cranstoun, John Button, John Macgil), 
 William Lauder, John Learmonth, James Halket, 
 William Wright, Patrick Haliburton, and Archi- 
 bald Pitcairn in all twenty-one. 
 
 What method was adopted in the arrangement 
 of the names, we have no means of knowing. 
 The gentlemen who had originally been con- 
 sulted by the judges as the four principal physi 
 cians, are not precisely those whose names first 
 occur in the patent, neither are they those of the 
 number who principally exerted themselves in the 
 attainment of the charter, as they were Drs 
 Stevenson, Balfour, and Sibbald, who stand fourth, 
 fifth, and sixth in order. They were also at 
 greater expense than the others ; for when it 
 became necessary to call upon each member to 
 subscribe towards the expense that had been 
 incurred, Dr Hay, whose name was inserted 
 tirst, absolutely refused to contribute any thing. ; 
 and Dr Brisbaine followed his example : these 
 two were therefore declared to be merely honorary 
 members. And in the beginning of the year 
 1682, Drs Stevenson, Balfour, and Sibbald, the 
 three gentlemen who had, during the settlement 
 of the transaction, been brought under the private 
 notice of the Duke of York, received the honour 
 of knighthood. This was entirely unsolicited, 
 and even unexpected, on their part. As they 
 svere merely desired, on a Saturday night, to 
 
38 MEMOIR OF 
 
 wait on his Royal Highness the following day, 
 after morning service, they supposed it was upon 
 business relating to the new college ; but, says 
 Sibbald, " to our surprisal, there was a carpet 
 laid, and we were ordered to kneel, and were 
 each of us knighted by his Royal Highness, then 
 Commissioner." They were indebted to the 
 Earl of Perth and Sir Charles Scarborough for 
 the honour. 
 
 Sir Robert Sibbald was requested by the 
 college to return thanks, in their name, to his 
 Royal Highness, for the charter which occa- 
 sioned him, he says. " much envy, that he was 
 taken notice of at the court." He soon after pre- 
 sented the new society with three shelves full of 
 books, among which were the works of Galen and 
 Hippocrates, and Gesner's History of Animals. 
 And now, having remained four years a widower 
 he again married, in November, Anna Orrock, 
 youngest daughter of the Laird of Orrock. 
 
 On the 20th March, 1684, Sir Robert suffered 
 a serious loss by the burning of his house. The 
 fire originated in the flat overhead ; and by Sir 
 George Mackenzie's advice, he instituted an action 
 against the tenant, to recover the amount of the 
 damage sustained, but afterwards was advised to 
 withdraw the suit. He estimates his loss at ten 
 thousand merks. In the course of this year, his 
 Scotia Illustrata, upon which he had been long 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 39 
 
 engaged, was published ; and he gave away nearly 
 seventy copies in presents, two of which, in extra 
 binding, for which he tells us he paid one guinea 
 each, he sent to the King and the Duke of York- 
 Dr Johnson has spoken of Dryden's economy of 
 flattery as at once lavish and discreet, because he 
 dedicated his translations of the Pastorals, the 
 Georgics, and the ^Eneid of Virgil, to three diffe- 
 rent noblemen. Sir Robert Sibbald had, many 
 years before Dryden, in this book, adopted the 
 same plan, as he dedicates the whole work to the 
 king, and the two halves to the Duke of York 
 and the Earl of Perth respectively. Indeed, the 
 doctor's court education was at this time rapidly 
 thriving ; but thisiis too important an affair to be 
 given in any other words but his own. It is 
 necessary to premise, that the circumstances 
 occurred immediately after the accession of the 
 Duke of York to the throne of Great Britain by 
 the title of James the Second, who commenced 
 his reign by sending an agent to the Pope, to 
 solicit the admission of the kingdom into the 
 bosom of the Romish Church ; and that the Par- 
 liament of Scotland, under the management of the 
 Duke of Queensberry, as High Commissioner, 
 and the Earl of Perth, as Chancellor, made a 
 complete resignation of their liberties to the Court. 
 The duke, says Hume, " had resolved to make 
 an entire surrender of the liberties of his country, 
 
40 MEMOIR OF 
 
 but was determined still to adhere to its religion. 
 The earl entertained no scruple of paying cour* 
 even by the sacrifice of both." But let us hear 
 Sir Robert Sibbald. 
 
 " Now I come to the difficultest passage of my 
 life. The friendship I had with the Earle of 
 Perth was come to a great hight, though I had 
 improven it only for the good of the Colledge of 
 Physitians, and done very little for the bettering 
 of my fortune by it. I admired too much him, 
 and gave full scouth to my affection for him, 
 without considering him more narrowly : by my 
 extroversion towards the concerns of the Coledge, 
 and greate persute after curious bookes, I had lost 
 much of the assiet and firmnesse of mynd I had 
 formerly, and had by his meanes been ingadged 
 in a controversie about the antiquity of our 
 Country and our Kings, upon occasion of the 
 Bishop of Asaph, his reflections upon them. 
 This had taken me much up, for I wrott two 
 bookes in vindication of our history and histo- 
 rians upon that account, one in answer to the 
 Bishop xara croSas, and the other a vindication 
 of our history, and the contraverted points more 
 regularly. This had occasioned in me some 
 contempt of the English Clergy upon that 
 account, and some prevarications of some of our 
 own folks upon some heads, had loused the 
 attachment I had for our owne Religion. The 
 
JVKRSiiY 
 s 
 SIR ROBERT S1B13A1.D. 
 
 Earle had many tymes signified the aversion he 
 had for some of the doctrines of the Church of 
 Rome, and I was secure upon that head, although 
 Doth he and I thought ther wer many great and 
 good men amongst them ; bot behold, (how it 
 was brought about the Lord knowes,) he had 
 declared himself of the Romish faith, and joined 
 in ther worship some two moneths befor I knew 
 it. At last one Sunday he had taken physick, 
 he took the opportunity, wee being alone, to tell 
 me, weeping, that he was of that persuasion, 
 and that no consideration of worldly interest 
 had induced him therto, but that he was 
 convinced it was the true and the ancient 
 Church. Though I was much surprised at this, 
 yet I told him I could not but have the charity 
 to believe it was so as he told me, for 1 thought 
 there could be nothing more contrary to his 
 interest then that was ; he said he was sensible of 
 it, and had offered with great earnestLess to 
 resigne his place, but the king had commanded 
 him, upon his allegiance, to continue in his post. 
 This did occasion odd thoughts in my mynde ; 
 yett I thought whatever he did, I could do 
 better to continue in the church I was born and 
 bred in. I never had met with any of the 
 Romish Clergie, nor spoken with any upon their 
 doctrin, and was secure, when in the begining of 
 September, 1685, he carried me alongst with him 
 
42 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to Drummond, to sie his Lady, who, aftei a long 
 languishing sickness, was then dying. I knew 
 nothing of it, bot he told me afterwards, that the 
 very next day after her arrival, he brought her 
 over to the Romish persuasion. Good Lady, 
 she, I believe, did it out of the love she had for 
 him, and took it for granted that ther was no 
 more in it then that she sould be saved only by 
 the merits of her Saviour ; and I saw nothing bot 
 this suirer perswa&ion the few dayes that she 
 lived, except that she assented to them as of the 
 true Catholick's Church, and joined in their 
 worship and service. Bot all she said herself 
 that I heard, was what any Protestant believed, 
 and used in the agonie of death to say. So she 
 died, and ceremonies were used at her death. 
 
 " The next day after I arrived at Drummond, he 
 had given me the Lyfe of Gregory Lopez, and 
 of Father Davila to read. I read them with 
 great admiration of ther piety and austerity of 
 lyfe ; and one day thereafter, as we were walking, 
 he fell a speaking of religion, and of the Romish 
 way. I told him I had a great charity for all 
 good men of that persuasion, and I thought I 
 had most aversion for their want of charity for 
 those were out of their church. He told me, they 
 believed that any good man of a different way 
 from them, that had a sincere love to God, would 
 be saved. I said I was well pleased to hear that 
 
SIR ROBERT SIISIiALI). 43 
 
 (About xi a clock, he called me up to his studie, 
 and there he read to me a paper that the 
 Duchess of York had writt upon her embracing 
 that religion, and discoursed very pathetically 
 upon it. I knew not how it carne about, I felt a 
 ^reat warmness of my affections while he was 
 
 teading and discoursing, and thereupon, as I 
 hought, oestro quodam pietatis ?notus, I said, I 
 >vould embrace that religion, upon which he took 
 me in his arms and thanked God for it. This 
 was the way, without any furder consideration, 
 that I joined with them, and signified my willing- 
 ness to join to the priest when he came. After 
 that, I frequented their service, and became 
 seriously enamoured with ther way ; and notwith- 
 standing the great opposition I mett with, from 
 all my relations and acquaintances, I continued 
 more and more resolute, and professed I had 
 joined with them.* Ther Churchmen were not of 
 
 * This account of Sibbald's conversion is very inte- 
 resting, and although he turned Papist at a period when his 
 motives were naturally ascribed rather to a desire to find 
 favour in the eyes of a bigoted monarch, than to any 
 internal conviction of the truth of the Catholic religion, 
 still his narrative has such an air of truth, that it is 
 difficult to disbelieve the writer. Besides, in forming an 
 opinion on the subject, it ought not to be overlooked, 
 that Sir Robert publicly abjured the errors of Popery 
 prior to the abdication of James. In the Scottish Pas- 
 quels, vol. iii. p. 62, Edin. 1828, 12mo. will be found a 
 severe satire upon Sibbald. written by Dr Pitcairne 
 Aofe by Mr Mallment in /he Analtcta. 
 
44 MKMOTT? OP 
 
 any great learning, knowing for the most parte 
 only the scholastic philosophic and theologie, Lot 
 some of them were very devout in ther way, and 
 spent most of their time in publick or private 
 devotion, and acts of charity, which increased 
 my esteeme for them. They were too forward 
 in their methods, and I told them, their having 
 their service upon the streets might occasion 
 them more trouble than they were aware of; 
 bot they did in that more like bigots than wise 
 men, and provoked the Rabble against them 
 and me. 
 
 The Rable judged I had made the Earle of 
 that persuasion, and vowed to be avenged on 
 me ; and accordingly the first of February, while 
 I was sitting in my own chamber, reading, they 
 came in a tumult to my house to assassinate me. 
 I had been warned of their designe in the fore- 
 noon by a Lady that overheard them swear they 
 would kill me, and had thereupon made my will, 
 and prepared myself for death ; and when they 
 came to force their entry to the house, three or 
 four hundred of them, I fell upon my knees, and 
 commended my soul to God, and went out at 
 the back door of my house, not doubting but 
 that they might fall upon me and kill me. It 
 pleased God, Mistress Kyle who lodged below 
 me, heard me come out, and gave me the key of 
 the yard, so I escaped by leaping my yard dyke, 
 and lying in the braes at the foot thereof, till 
 
SIR ROBERT STBBALD. 45 
 
 searching for me, of our owne people, I 
 oined them, and came home. They had broken 
 up the utter door, and soon after the other door 
 was opened to them ; they entered with durks 
 md axes, and for-hammers, and one fetcht a 
 stroak with a durk to have killed my wyfe, hot 
 was hindered by one that told she was a Prote- 
 stant. They searched the Bed, and not finding- 
 lie, went away, after they had sworn they would 
 Rathillet'* me. I was conveyed down to the 
 Abbey by Lieutenant Generall Drumond in 
 nis coach, with Claverous, who was then Viscount 
 of Dundee, and finding the spighte continued 
 against me, I took journey with Lieutenant 
 Drumond of the lyfe guard, and went to Berwick, 
 where I . mett with the Earl of Traquaire, Mr 
 Irvvin, and Mr Lindsay, and wee road post to 
 London in six days. At Stonegate hold we 
 perceived six Highway men, three upon each 
 side of the road, waiting for us : we rode through 
 them without any harme. At Stamford, after 
 we had mounted our horses, and were riding out 
 
 An allusion to the murder of Archbishop Sharpe, in 
 which Halkerston of Rathillet was a principal actor. 
 Hence, the populace adopted the phrase " to Rathillet" 
 in lieu of "to assassinate," and as more forcibly expres- 
 sing the same thing. In like manner, the word * Burked" 
 has recently come into general use, as indicating the 
 peculiar mode of assassination by suffocation, used by that 
 
 execrable miscreant, William Burke Note by Mr 
 
 Maif/ment. 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 of the Towne, my horse chanced to rub upon a 
 dragoon : he pecsued me with a dra\ven Bagonet 
 to stryke at me ; I turned about, and made my 
 excuse, bot he still persued me, so I put to the 
 horse and escaped. When I arrived at London, 
 I was carried the next night to court, to kiss the 
 King's hand. He spoak very kindly to me. I 
 prayed God to preserve and blisse him, and * 
 sayd no more, and never went to him after that, 
 for I heard they thought I had gone to court to 
 sollicite for the Romanists, so I keeped out of it, 
 and gave myself entirely to devotion while I was 
 at London." 
 
 After remaining in London eight or nine 
 weeks, he became severely unwell with cough, 
 rheumatism, and erysipelas, which he attributed 
 partly to cold caught from lying out that night 
 the mob broke into his house, and the fatigue of 
 his journey to London, which was on horseback, 
 and partly to his rigid fish diet during Lent, 
 consequent upon his change of religion. Illness 
 produced its usual beneficial effects upon the 
 heart, and he saw clearly the impropriety of the 
 step he had so rashly taken. " I began to think 
 I had been too precipitant in declaring myself of 
 the Romish faith, though I joined in the simpli- ' 
 city of my heart." " I perceived also the whole , 
 people of England was under a violent restraint 
 then, and I foresaw they would overturn the 
 Government. The Jesuits who had the greater 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 47 
 
 influence at court, pressing the king to illegal 
 and unaccountable undertakings, and opposing 
 the taking of the allegiance, which I was bound 
 to by oaths. Upon which considerations, I 
 repented of my rashness, and resolved to come 
 home, and return to the church I was born in." 
 And being too ill to travel by land, he set sail 
 for Leith, and after a passage of eight days, 
 arrived safe. " When I was come home, I 
 wrote to the Chancellor my resolution, and 
 declared it to some who visited me. And I 
 went no more to the Popish service, but removed 
 to the country, and went to church. And 
 in September following, I was received by the 
 Bishop of Edinburgh, (upon my acknowledg- 
 ment of my rashness,) in his house, and took 
 the sacrament, according to the way of the 
 Church of England, and kept constantly my 
 parish church." 
 
 There is always a suspicion as to the purity of 
 the motives of any sudden political or religious 
 conversion that takes place under circumstances 
 favourable to the worldly interests of the conver- 
 ted ; and it must be confessed, that, in Sibbald's 
 case, these suspicions might very justly be re- 
 garded at the time in the most unfavourable 
 point of view. But in looking back calmly and 
 dispassionately in the present day, to his own 
 narrative, there is no reason to doubt his integrity, 
 
 the sincerity of his convictions, at the moment 
 
48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 he embraced the Romish faith, whatever opinion 
 may be formed of his discretion, judgment, and 
 strength of mind ; he gave way to his feelings 
 without guiding them by reason. Indeed, there 
 is little doubt, that he was all along marked out 
 as the tool of Perth, and, perhaps, also of James 
 himself. His education had probably peculiarly 
 exposed him to the Jesuitical attacks of his wily 
 patron. We have seen that, early in life, he had 
 studied with great delight the writings of Sir 
 Kenelm Digby ; and Digby himself had, to use 
 the current phrase, " been reconciled to the 
 Church of Rome ;" while the axiom he had im- 
 bibed from Leighton, " of loving all good men of 
 every persuasion," had been, perhaps, too incau- 
 tiously received. It is an opinion that requires 
 to be guardedly advanced, especially towards 
 young persons, as it may lead to an idea that 
 all forms of religion are the same ; besides it 
 requires a previous consideration of what con- 
 stitutes a good man, or in other words, what are 
 to be considered fundamental principles* That 
 
 * " The misapplication of the word candour was more 
 injurious in its effects on religious sentiments than can 
 now be well conceived. It was supposed to possess 
 indescribable virtues. Candour was sounded from many 
 a pulpit ; and like charity it was supposed to hide a mul- 
 titude of sins. An orthodox minister, who had candour, 
 was to believe that an Arminian or Socinian was a very 
 good man ; and that if he was sincere in his opinions, and 
 not rigid in condemning others, he ought not to be con- 
 demned himself. The influence of this idea was exceed- 
 ingly pernicious ; for it led to an indifference with respect 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 49 
 
 Leighton, whose " high toned spirituality made 
 him overlook the importance attached by vulgar 
 opinion to the outside forms and fashions of re- 
 ligion,"* should diligently inculcate such advice 
 at a period when bitter hatred and rancorous 
 hostility against each other had completely ex- 
 cluded pure Christian charity from the bosom 
 of all sects, is scarcely to be wondered at, but 
 such opinions may be overstrained ; and in his 
 own person, they led even him into compliances 
 that were scarcely consistent, and which have to 
 this day left a blot upon a name otherwise res- 
 plendent for piety and virtue. It is worthy of 
 observation also, that there are many points ot 
 Loighton's character, and tone of thinking and 
 writing, that may be considered favourable to the 
 Romish ritual, though not to its faith.f His own 
 
 to truth and error, which depraved both their sentiments 
 and dispositions, which relaxed the springs of Christian 
 integrity and conduct, and gradually brought them to call 
 good evil and evil good, to put light for darkness, and 
 darkness for light." Boyue and Bennet's History of the 
 Dissenters, vol. ii. pages 305-6, second edition. 
 
 * Pearson's Life of Leighton. 
 
 t The following quotation from Pearson's Life will justify 
 the remark in the text, " Leighton was not by nature 
 morose and ascetic ; yet something of a cloisteral com- 
 plexion appears to have been wrought in him by the 
 character of the times, and by the society of men like- 
 minded with himself. Heplungedirto thesolitudes of devo- 
 tion, with a view to escape the polluting commerce of the 
 world, to gain the highest place of sacred contemplation, 
 and to maintain perpetual intercourse with Heaven. That 
 he was no friend to monastic seclusion is certain. He 
 
 koned the greater number of the regular clergy in 
 
l> MEMOIR OF 
 
 brother was a Papist, and by his advice, grounded 
 on mercenary views, the king had selected Leigh- 
 ton for a bishoprick. What degree of influence 
 the example of the tutor might have upon the 
 mind of the pupil in this transaction, there may 
 be a difference of opinion ; but we think that it 
 had some. We are justified in supposing Sibbald's 
 aberration was of but short continuance ; and it 
 
 Roman Catholic countries to be little better than iynavi 
 fures, rapacious drones ; at the same time that he recognized 
 among them a few specimens of extending gro wth in religion, 
 and thought he had discovered in the piety of some conventual 
 recluses a peculiar and celestial flavour which could hardly be 
 met with elsewhere. Of their sublime devotion he of ten spoke 
 with an admiration approaching to rapture" P. 58. 
 
 " There was ' a current report that Leighton was not 
 unfriendly to some parts of the pontifical constitution, a 
 report which seems to have taken its rise from his paying 
 occasional visits to the college at Douay, and to have been 
 countenanced by his celibacy, his ascetic habits, and an 
 admiration for some of the disciples of Jansenius, which 
 he was too high minded and ingenuous to dissemble. 
 It was, indeed, more than insinuated that he was too 
 liberally affected towards the Catholics for a stanch and 
 thorough Protestant ;' and the commendation he bestowed 
 on the writer of Thomas a Kempis in his public lectures, 
 did not escape some animadversion," p. 16. The writer 
 of this, himself an Episcopalian, trusts he shall not be 
 misunderstood, or supposed intending any thing derogatory 
 to the exalted character of Leighton, by selecting these 
 extracts, still less of insinuating that he was inclined to 
 Romanism. He merely produces these passages in proof 
 of the bishop's laxity on points which, coupled with his 
 superior religious attainments, he might justly regard as 
 matters of inferior moment, but which, in the eyes of the 
 world, should always be respected, and in a teacher of 
 youth it was surely injudicious to despise- 
 
SIR ROBERT S1BBALD. 51 
 
 is an additional proof of his integrity, that his 
 abjuration of the errors of Popery was as public 
 as possible,* and occurred while the king was 
 pursuing its extension with the utmost vigour of 
 his power. He deeply repented his fault, and it 
 ultimately proved beneficial to himself, as exhi- 
 biting to him his own weakness and dependence 
 for strength upon a higher power. " I thank 
 God," he adds, " who opened my eyes, and by 
 my affliction gave me the grace to know myself 
 and the world, and to take better heed to my 
 ways, and to amend my life." 
 
 In times of affected liberality, like the present, 
 we would urge on every educated person the 
 duty of forming their religious principles, not 
 from the example of men, as they may happen to 
 be born in one part of the British dominions or 
 another; but, like the Bereans, let them search 
 the Scriptures, to ascertain whether these things 
 be so or no. Let them not " follow cunningly 
 devised fables," but be able to give a reason for 
 the hope that is in them. Let them thus form a 
 standard by which to test all things ; and having 
 thus satisfied themselves of the truth and impor- 
 tance of the principles they maintain, they will 
 not be liable to be blown about by every wind of 
 
 * The news immediately reached London, as we find 
 Evelyn, in his Diary under that year, recording that " The 
 King's chief Physician in Scotland, apostatizing from the 
 Protestant religion, does, of his own accord, publish bis 
 recant*-?in nt Edinburgh." 
 
52 MEMOIR OF 
 
 doctrine, the prey of the artful and designing, 
 till they ultimately become a mark for the linger 
 of scorn, or an object for the tear of pity, 
 To point a moral or adorn a tale. 
 
 But it is time to quit this unfortunate period of 
 a life otherwise devoted to the benefit of his fellow- 
 beings. While he was in London, Sir Robert 
 Sibbald was created a fellow of the College of Phy- 
 sicians there, and he at the same time formed an 
 acquaintance with the Honourable Robert Boyle, 
 who ever after forwarded to him copies of his 
 different publications. 
 
 Nothing more can be traced of Sibbald's per- 
 sonal history. What has baffled the inquiries of 
 Mr Maidment and Mr Laing,* two of the most 
 indefatigable and intelligent literary antiquaries of 
 Scotland, it would be vain for us to attempt to 
 supply : we can only, therefore, add a few letters 
 to Wodrow, the Church historian, on subjects con- 
 nected with Natural History, written about the 
 period of his life to which we have now arrived. 
 
 Edin. 13t/i May, 1691. 
 
 REVKREND SIR, I ame glad to hear from 
 Doctor Izet that you are in good health, he told 
 
 * To Mr Laing we beg to return our best thanks for 
 kindly placing at our disposal bis curious collections relative 
 to Sibbald, which, to anyone investigating the literary and 
 antiquarian history of that time, are invaluable, but which we 
 were prevented from making much use of from the limits 
 ^to which it is necessary to reduce the present Memoir. 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 53 
 
 me of two whales came in at Culross shortly. I 
 nu?t entreat yow to putt your nephew on it to 
 gett me the best account of them. The Doctor 
 sayeth the Schoolmaster can give the best des- 
 cription, if Mr Creigh or any other ther can helpe 
 to it, I pray yow cause speak to them. I would 
 be informed of ther shape, the figure of ther 
 head, the number of ther fins, and whether they 
 had teeth both in the under and upper jaw, and 
 some of them would be sent, the difference of 
 the teeth would be marked, and if the other of 
 them had Baleen or teeth different from the other. 
 Whither ther was any spermacety in ther heads, 
 if any thing was gotten in ther stomach, and 
 the shap of ther stomach, the lengthe of ther body, 
 and some of the bones toward the tail would be 
 sent. If they be so that they may be worth the 
 sieing, I would come over on purpose to sie them, 
 'iut it's lyke your answer will satisfie my 
 curiosity here. I wish yow all happienes, and I 
 am, your assured friend and humble servant, 
 
 R. SlBBALD. 
 
 For the Reverend Mr James Aird 
 at Torriburn. These. 
 
 ACCOMPT PROM ALEXR. DRAYSDALE, ONE OP 
 THE CUTTERS. 
 
 The name of it is a fine fish, the shape was 
 much like ane mane swine, the head of the same 
 
MEMOIR OF 
 
 species, the number of the fins were fyve, two on 
 every side, and ane small one on the back, they 
 had teeth both in the upper and neather jawes, on 
 the tope of the head there was about ten inches 
 of pure fatt, and in the eye holl there was about a 
 foott and ane halfe of fatt, even to the very tongue 
 roots, the teeth wer of a like bignesse, none of 
 them had balen, both of them had a like teeth : he 
 can give noe accompt of the spermaceti, onely the 
 head was full of brains, part thereof being bronish 
 colored and not fatt, they were, the one was three 
 fathoms and some more, the other two fathoms 
 ten foot, the collor of the fishes were like to a 
 speckled horse smoth without scales, the leane ot 
 the fish was like to leane beaffe, the shape of his 
 bodie was like to an other whale, the head was 
 great at the craige, and drew narrow at the mouth, 
 somewhat long jawes, haveing in the upper jaw 
 Uiirtie teeth, and betwixt every one of these there 
 was a voyde to receive the tooth in the neather 
 jaw, his eyes were directly like ane cow's eye, 
 placed in the upper part of his head, his lenth was 
 eight ells, he had a great fine on his back about 
 ane ell and more of lenth even up from his back, 
 with a fine in every side of his bellie : his bellie 
 was white as snow, the rest of his bodie was 
 blackish colored, with a large white spot OD each 
 shoulder, his virga was as bige as ane mutchen 
 stoope, and neer ane ell of lenth, not soe white as 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 55 
 
 the bellie, nor yett soe black as the rest of his 
 bodie, the taill had lairge whyte spotts on eadi 
 syae. 
 
 Edin. lltkNovr. 1699. 
 
 SIR, I gave vow many thanks for the 
 inscriptions yow sent me and the fossils. I have 
 not Lister by me to compare them and give yow 
 so perfect ane account as I could wish, but yow 
 shall haue my owne thoughts. These in the 
 Number I. I take to be Pectenculites. 
 
 These of the Number 2nd. which taper some- 
 what, seem to me to be fragments of the Belem- 
 nites ; in the 3 paper there is a Nerites, and with 
 it the radiolus of ane Entrochus very pretty. 
 
 Number 4 is a collection of Entrochi. 
 
 Number 5 is Entrochi compressi et magis com- 
 planati. 
 
 Number 6 seem to be Turbinat, but are so 
 broken, that I cannot reduce them to a certain 
 tribe. I could wish to haue some of them inteir. 
 
 I ame glad yow haue found another Roman 
 inscription, I beseach yow to let me haue a copie 
 of it, and ane account of Caderwood's MS. 
 History yow haue. I must confess I never saw 
 yet any satisfactory account of the original 5 or 
 6 stances, though ther be severall ingenious 
 hypothesises about them which yow are acquaint 
 with. Wee haue gote here some poems of 
 
56 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Buchanan were never printed. Ther is a satyre 
 against the Cardinall of Lorain, of ane 153 
 Heroick Verses, and some others, which, if Mr 
 Mosman's designe holds of printing all his works 
 in a fyne letter and great paper, will make ane 
 addition to this edition, all befor it wanted. What 
 may be worthy your knowledge I may heare of, 
 shall be transmitted to yow by, your assured 
 friend and humble servant, 
 
 R. SIBBALD. 
 
 Edin. 31st August, 1700, 
 
 SIR, I am very much oblidged to yow for 
 your many favours. I haue been much taken up 
 of late with business, and oftene out of town, so 
 I could not writt to yow till now. I thank yow 
 for the use of your copie of the description of 
 Orknay, which I have read and delivered back to 
 Mr Paterson, to be sent to yow. Ther is very 
 litle materiall added to the 2d edition, except 
 that paper relating to the Sinclares. I ame 
 reading Sir James Turner's Animadversions upon 
 Buchanan, and shall take care of them. I am 
 very glad to see your proficiencie in the studie of 
 Natural History and good learning, and shall be 
 glad to my power to doe what I can for your 
 incouradgement. That in the substance like 
 Corall, in N. I. is indead Coralloides, a concre- 
 tion I have seen long since brought from Canty re 
 
SIR ROBERT S1BBALD. 57 
 
 and other parts. 1 have seen a lump of the bigness 
 and shape of a Gouf ball. Num. 2 is the Corallina 
 which is common every wher. I have seen of it 
 red and purplish. It is used for the worms in 
 children. Num. 3 is thought to be the uterus of 
 a skate, the fishers call it the skate's purse. I 
 ame very well pleased with thes curious stones 
 Mr Lloyde heth sent me, the same yow mention, 
 and I judge have receaved from him. I ame 
 persuaded yow will find these and many more 
 curiosities, upon application and search in severall 
 places of the country. I shall intreat yow withall 
 to take notice of all the ancient monuments, the 
 inscriptions, medalls, or other pieces of antiquity, 
 found alongst the Roman Wall, near the tract of 
 it, or the Roman Garisons in your parts, and lett 
 me be acquainted with what you meet with. Mr 
 Lloyde his letter heth lyen so long at Belfast, 
 (being written the 2d of Aprile) I think by his 
 to me, he may by this tyme be out of Cornwall, 
 gone for litle Britannie in France. He designed 
 to goe ther to observe the resemblance and 
 approache ot the language ther, to that in Corn- 
 wall and Wales. He is a learned and ingenious 
 gentleman, and his work will be very acceptable 
 to the learned in these kingdomes. I shall be 
 glad to have your account of that extraordinarie 
 8tone yow mention. When yow come here, yow 
 shall have a share of some of my collections yow 
 
58 MEMOIR OF 
 
 mention at your own choice. I have neer finished 
 anfi edition of Arator from the excellent MS. I 
 have. I am expecting some observations and 
 notes on him from a learned Swedish gentleman, 
 who wrote to me about the edition of Arator from 
 England. I shall acquaint yow of what I gett 
 when they come to my hand ; and now I have 
 prepared ane edition of our countrieman, Sedulius, 
 from ane excellent manuscript copie of it with 
 notes in parchment belonging to the Lawers 
 Library. I purpose to add to it Sedulius his 
 paraphrase in prose published by himself, a printed 
 copie of which I have, and the notes of Antonius 
 Nebrissensis, and others, so it will be lyke one of 
 the poets done for the Dauphin. They are excel- 
 lent poets, especially Sedulius, and I hope they 
 may be of use for the young students for fixing 
 n ther mynds the great truths of Religion. I 
 think this may, with the blessing of God, be one 
 mean for the reformation of manner, (happily 
 begun in the neighbour kingdome,) wished for by 
 all good men in that country. Mr Andrew Simp- 
 son heth promised to make a faire and correct 
 edition, if he may have incouradgement from the 
 schools and colledges. I ame hopeful yow will 
 take pains to procure subscriptions in Glasgow. 
 1 intend Sedulius shall be first published, he being 
 lyke to be best wellcomed here, and having so 
 many advantages above the others, tyme may 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 59 
 
 gett us more for Arator, and I shall doe what is 
 in my power to complect the edition of him too. 
 I shall intreat yow to continue your correspon- 
 dence, although I cannot promise to writte so 
 oftene as it were neadfull. I shall from tyme to 
 tyme advertise yow what may be worthy your 
 knowledge, either by a lyne from myself, or from 
 Mr Sutherland, or Master Paterson. I wish yow 
 all happieness, and am, your assured friend, and 
 very humble servant, 
 
 R. SIBBALD. 
 
 Let me know when yow heard from the Arch- 
 deacon of Carleile, and what he writeth to yow 
 I could wish yow would see to gett a Grammer 
 of the Irish tongue, and send it to us : it were 
 worth your pains to learn that language, it might 
 be of use in retrieving our antiquities. Farewell. 
 
 Edin. 24th Sept. 1700. 
 
 SIR, I received yours yesterday, and would 
 delay no longer a returne to it. What yow 
 call the Mairdmaid's purse is judged by 'all 
 (I discoursed with) to be the uterus of a skate. 
 Ther are many sorts of skate frequent our 
 seas, and the sealchs and meerpoyne and poir- 
 poises devour a great many of them, which 
 may make them be so frequently found. The 
 membranaceous substance is animal, and the 
 
60 MEMOIR OF 
 
 stringe are the ligaments and the tubes belonging 
 to it. I shall be glad to see what yow call 
 Echinus Cordatus Major, or the Marmaid's Box, 
 I suppose it is so tender it must be sent in a small 
 buiste. I take it to be a sort of the Echinus 
 Spatagus, however it is fitt to know the names 
 the vulgar give, and their opinion of these things, 
 tho* they mistake oftine. I shall intreat I may 
 not be named in the edition of the Christian poet, 
 it will be tyme enough to mention that when it is 
 a printing. Sedulius will be first published as 
 being thought to be the better poet and a Scotch 
 Man, and any proposall yow think fitt to make 
 may be, for a new edition of Sedulius Scotus, his 
 Mirabilia Dei, corrected from ane excellent 
 Manuscript copie in parchment of betuixt six 
 hundred and seeven hundred years old, done 
 about the tenth age. This to be printed by Mr 
 Andrew Simpson, on good paper, and a fine 
 letter, in Octavo, with choice notes and prolego- 
 mena concerning the author and the learned's 
 opinion of his work. It may take neer a quair of 
 paper in print : the subscrivers to have it in sheets 
 for twenty shillings Scots, they advancing pre- 
 sently at their subscription the half, ten shillings 
 Scots. If yow can gett about ane hundred sub- 
 scrivers, Master Sympson will, upon your paying 
 in fiftie pounds Scots, give yow socuritie to 
 deliver a hundred copies upon the payment of the 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 61 
 
 other half of the price at the delivery. If this be 
 done, he will take care to provide a new letter 
 for it and good paper, and the fiftie pounds Scots 
 will goe to defray part of that charge. Arator 
 will not come out till wee see how this of Sedulius 
 is wellcomed. My part of the work of Sedulius 
 is neer done already. If yow can doe anything 
 at the Synode or with your scholars, name not 
 me hot let the undertaking be in Mr Simpson's 
 name and your owne. I shall be glad to hear 
 what may be done in this. I wish yow all 
 happieness. And I ame your assured friend and 
 bumble servant, R. SIBBALD. 
 
 If you gett subscriptions for that number with 
 yow it is like Mr Simpson may get as many here. 
 I never saw either ane Irish ^ramm^" or dic- 
 tionarie. I ame told ther was a Grammer printed 
 abroad, but not very good. 
 
 The exact period of Sir Robert's death is not 
 known ; but it is presumed to have occurred in 
 the year 1722, as in the latter part of that year 
 was published, " Bibliotheca Sibbaldiana ; or a 
 Catalogue of Curious and Valuable Books, con- 
 sisting of Divinity, Civil and Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory, Medicine, Natural History, Philosophy, 
 Mathematics, Belles Lettres, &c. with a curious 
 Collection of Historical and other Manuscripts, 
 
62 MEMOIR OF 
 
 being the Library of the LATE Learned and 
 Ingenious ' Sir Robert Sibbald of Kipps, Doctor 
 of Medicine. To be sold by way of auction, on 
 Tuesday, the 5th of February, 1723, at his house 
 in the Bishop's Land in Edinburgh, where placards 
 will be affixed. 
 
 " The time of sale is to be from two of the 
 clock to six in the afternoon. 
 
 " The Books may be seen eight days before 
 the auction." 
 
 The catalogue of the printed books occupies 
 one hundred and thirty-five pages in quarto, and 
 of the MSS. five more. The latter were sold in 
 the gross for 260, and were purchased by the 
 Faculty of Advocates, who also bought many of 
 the printed books, expending altogether 342, 1 7s. 
 sterling at the sale. 
 
 We shall conclude this Memoir with the 
 following anonymous summary of his character 
 and services to science and literature, published 
 in a Sketch of the State of Scotland during the 
 seventeenth century, in the Scots Magazine. 
 
 " Sir Robert Sibbald was a man of as pure 
 intentions, and of as indefatigable industry and 
 ardour in the pursuit of science, as any age has 
 ever produced. Though not possessed of the 
 genius of Pitcairn, and of several other eminent 
 contemporaries, he had equal, if not superior, 
 habits cf industry and application to those philo- 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALb. 63 
 
 sopliers who, in his time, cultivated the knowledge 
 of nature. The effect which such a man produced 
 was incalculable : the sole object which he seems 
 to have had in view, was to promote the progress 
 of science, and thereby to benefit mankind. 
 Towards the end of the seventeenth century, his 
 celebrated friend and associate, Sir Andrew Bal- 
 four, died, who, together with his brother, Sir 
 James, the- Lord Lyon, were great encouragers of 
 learning, and collectors of whatever had a ten- 
 dency to illustrate the history and antiquities of 
 Scotland. The library of both brothers was sold 
 by auction in the year 1700. Whether the Bal- 
 four MSS. now in the library of the Faculty of 
 Advocates, were purchased at that sale, or pre- 
 sented to that honourable body, I know not, but 
 they constitute the most valuable part of that 
 extensive collection. The Balfours and Sibbald 
 had a great taste for antiquarian research, and, 
 indeed, may be considered as the first who excited 
 the attention of the public in this country to those 
 studies. Natural History, as we have already 
 seen, was no less diligently cultivated by them ; 
 and they seem to have been more generous than 
 collectors sometimes are. Sir R. Sibbald pre- 
 sented to the University of Edinburgh, in the 
 year 1697, a great variety of natural and artificial 
 curiosities, both domestic and exotic, and pub- 
 lished, at the expense of the university, a treatise 
 
64 MEMOIR OF 
 
 consisting of two hundred and sixteen pages, 
 giving an account of them, entitled, * Auctarium 
 Musaei Balfouriani e Musaeo Sibbaldiano/ Thus 
 this excellent man must be considered as the 
 founder of the museum in the university, and was 
 among the first, if not the very first, after Dr 
 Morison, who published in Scotland an Introduc- 
 tion to Natural History. Under his auspices, Mr 
 James Sutherland, intendant of the physical gar- 
 den, and who has been already mentioned, pub- 
 lished, in 1683, * Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis,' 
 consisting of nearly four hundred pages. From 
 the dedication and preface, it is very plain that 
 he had profited by the plan, which had originally 
 been projected by Drs Balfour and Sibbald. To 
 Sibbald, the University also owe pictures o\ 
 Charles the First and Second, James the Seventh, 
 and Earl of Perth, Drummond of Hawthornden, 
 Sir George Mackenzie, and of the celebrated 
 Buchanan, and the two Bodii." 
 
 The published works of Sir Robert Sibbald 
 are considerable in numbers, and they are varied 
 in their subjects. We subjoin a list of the whole, 
 so far as they can be obtained. The " Scotia 
 Illustrata, sive Prodromus Historioe Naturalis," 
 is more particularly devoted to Natural History 
 It is a thin folio volume, published in Edinburgh 
 in 1684, and is divided into two books, the last 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 65 
 
 or which treats of the Zoology and Mineralogy 
 of the country. It is illustrated by twenty-two 
 plates, executed by G. Main and Reid, in the 
 rough and unfinished style of the period, and 
 contains three hundred and ten pages, besides the 
 plates. 
 
 The engraving prefixed to this volume is from 
 an original painting, presented to the College of 
 Physicians in this city, on the 1st of May, 1744, 
 by Lady Duntarvy, a daughter of Sir Robert 
 Sibbald. 
 
 WORKS OF SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 
 
 Disputatio Medica de variis Tabis specebus, Lugduni 
 
 Batavorum; 1661. 4to. 
 
 Nuncius Scoto Britannus ; Edin. 1683. Folio. 
 An Account of the Scottish Atlas ; Edin. 1683. Folio. 
 Scotia Illustrata, sive Prodromus Historic Naturalis, &c. 
 
 Edin. 1684. Folio. 
 
 Again, 1696. 'Folio. 
 Phalainologia Nova, &c. ; Edin. 1692. 4to. ; reprinted at 
 
 the instigation of Pennant in 1773. 
 An Advertisement anent the Xiphias, or Sword Fish, 
 
 exposed at Edinburgh. 
 
 An Essay concerning the Thule of the Ancients ; Edin- 
 burgh, 1693. 12mo. 
 Camden's Britannia, Additions to edition of 1695. 
 
 Folio. 
 Introductio ad Historiam rerum a Romanis gestarum, &c ; 
 
 Edin. 1696. Falio. 
 
66 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Auctarium Musaei Balfouriani, e Museo Sibbaidiano, &c. ; 
 
 Edin. 1697. 8vo. 
 
 Memoria Balfouriana, &c. Edin. 1699. 8vo. 
 Provision for the Poor in time of Dearth, &c. ; Edin. 
 
 1699. 8vo. 
 An Advertisement anent a rare sort of Whale come in 
 
 near Cramond ; 1701. 
 Coelii Sedulii Scoti poemata sacra ex MSS. &c. ; Edin. 
 
 1701. 8vo. 
 Georgii Sibbaldi, Regulse bene et salubrita vivendi, &c. ; 
 
 Edin. 1701. 8vo. 
 
 Commentarius in Vitam, G. Buchanani ; Edin. 1702. 6vo. 
 The Liberty and Independence of the Kingdom and 
 
 Church of Scotland Asserted. Three Parts. Edin. 
 
 1703. 4to. 
 An Answer to the Second Letter to the Lord Bishop of 
 
 Carlisle, &c. ; Edin. 1704. 8vo. 
 * Hippocratis legem et in ejus Epistolum ad Thessalum, 
 
 &c. ; Edin. 1706. 8vo. 
 Historical Inquiries concerning the Roman Monuments, 
 
 &c. in N. B. ; Edin. 1707. Folio. 
 The Histories, Ancient and Modern, of the Sheriffdoms 
 
 of Linlithgow and Stirling; Edin. 1710. Folio. 
 An Account of the Writers, &c. which treat of N. B. 
 
 Two parts. Edin. 1710. Folio. 
 Miscellanea quaedam eruditae Antiquitatis, &c. ; Edin. 
 
 1710. 
 Vindiciae Prodromi Historiae Naturalis Scotiae ; Edin. 
 
 1710. 
 History,^ Ancient and Modern, of the Sheriffdoms of Fife 
 
 and Kinross; Edin. 1710. Folio. 
 Reprinted, Cupar Fife ; 1803. 8vo. 
 Commentarius in Julii Agricola Expeditiones ; Edia. 
 
 1711. Folio. 
 
SIR ROBERT SIBBALD. 67 
 
 Conjectures concerning the Roman Ports, &c. in the 
 
 Friths of Forth and Tay ; Edin. 1711. 
 Specimen Glosiarii de Populis et Locis N. B. ; Edin. 
 
 1711. Folio. 
 Series rerum a Romanis, post avocatum Agricolam, &c.; 
 
 Edin. 171 K Folio. 
 Description of the Isles of Orkney and Zetland ; Edin. 
 
 1711. Folio. 
 
 In 1 739, Hamilton and Balfour reprinted several of these 
 
 under the title of 
 A Collection of several Treatises, in folio, concerning 
 
 Scotland, as it was of old, and also in later times. 
 
 By Sir Robert Sibbald, M.D. 
 
KAPTORE8. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " The wood, the mountain, and the barren waste, the 
 craggy rock, the river, and the lake, are never searched 
 in vain ; each have their peculiar inhabitants, that enliven 
 the scene and please the philosophic eye." MONTAGUE. 
 
 IN full accordance with the sentiments of the 
 author we have quoted above, and to whom the 
 British ornithologist is so greatly indebted, have 
 we often wandered in the recesses of our woods 
 and the passes of far-stretching and craggy moun- 
 tains, searched around our wild or beautiful lakes 
 and our precipitous sea-coasts, and we have 
 never been disappointed. If we did not always 
 meet with some species new to our collection, we 
 found fresh facts to record of those we already 
 possessed ; and we delighted in the landscape 
 enlivened by the airy creatures whose structure 
 we had been examining, and whose habits we 
 could there survey so freely. What would be the 
 landscape without its living inhabitants ? The 
 
70 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 luxuriance of vegetation, varying with beautiful 
 flowers and rich foliage, has charms quiet and 
 seducing, and affording ample subject for con- 
 templation. In the depth of the forest, or on 
 the mountain'* top, ere break of day had awa- 
 kened their various teiuate? lax? In some of 
 our beautiful mornings of mid-year, we have 
 seen how deeply tinted seemed the green of the 
 foliage, and how chaste and blended were the 
 tints on the nearly barren rock ; how lovely the 
 sylvan flowers appeared, shewing their freshest 
 blossoms amidst the soft and matted growth be- 
 neath, and how exquisite the structure of the moss 
 or lichen within our reach ; how calm, clear, and 
 serene the air, how deep the shadows, but how 
 complete the quiet, how still the silence ! There 
 is something in the gradual change from darkness 
 to day-light in places such as these, which, while 
 it is pleasing and agreeable to witness, leaves a 
 deep and impressive feeling not to be dispelled by 
 the richest or most attractive vegetation. Soon, 
 however, the stillness is broken, the various crea- 
 tures go to their usual occupations search of 
 food, or the business of procreation. The scene 
 is at once enlivened, and to none are we more 
 indebted for the animated change which ensues 
 than to those forms which will now more par- 
 ticularly claim our attention. 
 
 The ornithology of the British Islands may be 
 
INTRODUCTION. 71 
 
 said to be very extensive, possessing, with a few 
 exceptions, the whole of this portion of the Fauna 
 of northern and temperate Europe, those which 
 are wanting being natives either of the extreme 
 north or south, and just bounding on the forms 
 which occur in the nearest extra-European divi- 
 sions of the world, Asia or Africa. Many of the 
 species are migratory, a consequence alwaj^s ac- 
 companying insular lands ; but the proportion is 
 much less than in islands lying either more to the 
 north or south, where the general climate is less 
 temperate or uniform, and where the species from 
 either extreme annually crowd, to perform the 
 duties of incubation, or to spend the winter far 
 from seasons, the rigour of which even their hardy 
 nature could not withstand. And it is from the 
 middle situation, as it were, of our islands that the 
 birds more peculiarly southern or arctic are met 
 with only as stragglers or occasional visitants, 
 their instinctive wants being satisfied when they 
 reach a climate which holds a middle class, and 
 is subject neither to an arctic cold nor the intense 
 heat of an almost tropical region. Another 
 reason for the large proportion of species found 
 in our Fauna, is the very great variation of country 
 within its range. Sea-coasts of the most rugged 
 and precipitous nature, or flat, sandy and stretch- 
 ing into boundless salt-marshes and fens, afford a 
 residence and breeding stations for many sea-fowl 
 
72 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and flocks of the Grallatores. Inland, extensive 
 lakes, in still more extended chains, with banks 
 steep and rocky, or fiat and marshy, furnish sum- 
 mer resorts to many others of our water-fowl. 
 The Alpine districts of the north, in many parts 
 still clothed with extensive primeval forests, and 
 mixed with ravines and rocks of the wildest and 
 most sequestered character, are solitary and secure 
 retreats to many of the Raptores ; while the exten- 
 sive tracts of moor and moss around, rear a food 
 for them, and are the natural habitation of the 
 Tetraonidae and the summer-visiting Grallatores. 
 Finally, the cultivated and champagne lands of 
 the mid-lands and south, a mingled expanse of 
 grove, and hill and dale, abound with the Inces- 
 sorial birds, and with the exception of the shores ; 
 are the chosen rendezvous of nearly all our sum- 
 mer and winter visitants. In the whole, we can 
 now number above three hundred species 
 
 In a country of comparatively limited extent, 
 and moreover insular, and where within the last 
 hundred years the population and consequent cul- 
 tivation of the soil has increased so rapidly, a 
 change in the distribution of species, the diminu- 
 tion of the numbers or total extirpation of some, 
 with the introduction of a few others, might be 
 looked for. Every where this march of civilization 
 is most inimical to the retention of the native 
 animals in their proper haunts; they are either 
 
INTRODUCTION. 73 
 
 hunted and destroyed on account of the injuries 
 real or reputed which they commit on the works 
 of the husbandman ; or they are chased for the 
 profits yielded by the sale of their skins, and 
 for the food which they may afford to a people 
 perhaps newly settled, and to whom the culti- 
 vated productions have not yet been reared in 
 plenty. We have striking instances of this in 
 North America, New Holland, and South Africa. 
 In these lands, wherever colonies have been 
 formed, the larger quadrupeds and birds have 
 been either extirpated from their formerly wild 
 and solitary haunts, or have fled before the settler 
 to districts where they could still enjoy seclusion. 
 We can no longer see the ostrich or emu without 
 performing extensive journeys to the interiors ; 
 and the wild turkey, the bird of America, by our 
 latest accounts, is now a rare species except in the 
 far west." Similar causes have operated in our 
 own country, and though now extensively, the 
 time of their operation has been gradual and long. 
 So far as number of species is to be regarded, our 
 list will perhaps exceed what it previously did, for 
 so much attention has been given to ornithology of 
 late years, that several rare birds have been added 
 to our Fauna, and some, whose characters had 
 not been very well marked, have been separated 
 from those they resembled ; but nevertheless our 
 loss has been great. All the larger Raptorial birds 
 
74 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 have decreased to a serious extent. The wooded 
 character of Britain in its ancient state, standing, 
 particularly in the northern parts, almost as an 
 uninterrupted primeval forest, has been destroyed, 
 and the favourite haunts of these wild birds have 
 been intruded on. But they chiefly owe their 
 diminution to the large premiums which are offered 
 for their destruction, on account of the havoc they 
 commit among the young of the flocks and to the 
 game. The extensive cultivation, and particularly 
 the drainage, in all parts has materially influenced 
 the numbers of both our stationary and migratory 
 water- fowl. The latter cause has worked most 
 destructively in the fenny districts of Lancashire 
 and Lincoln, and is gradually expelling species 
 which we can never hope to see replaced in other 
 stations. The multitudes of those birds were for- 
 merly very great, living and breeding unmolested 
 in parts now under cultivation and furnishing 
 the grains for our markets, " water-foules there 
 is so great store that the report thereof may 
 seeme to exceed all credite." We cannot calcu- 
 late the proportion of their decrease at less than 
 two-thirds. But our most to be regretted extir- 
 pations are among the Rasorial birds, the species 
 of which order, generally easily domesticated and 
 in a great measure granivorous, afford temptations, 
 from the price that is paid for them, to supply the 
 markets of our large towns as much sought for 
 
INTRODUCTION. 75 
 
 articles of luxury. The capercalzie has long dis- 
 appeared from our northern forests ; and we fear 
 that a less noble, but more interesting bird, from 
 its restricted locality, is fast following. The Bird 
 of Britain, confined in its range exclusively within 
 the boundaries of our islands, is decreasing fear- 
 fully and rapidly. Fifty years hence, another 
 generation may have to travel far before he can 
 see the redgrouse, the moor-fowl of our northern 
 hills, if the indiscriminate slaughter continues as 
 it now prevails. The ptarmigan has also dimi- 
 nished in numbers, but its high and rocky almost 
 inaccessible haunts, will always be, to a certain 
 extent, a safeguard and protection against unli- 
 mited destruction. The bustard is another loss 
 which cannot be replaced ; the extensive com- 
 mons, the wastes or plains of the south, have lost 
 their solitariness, and with it, in the judgment of 
 the ornithologist, their greatest ornament ; while 
 among the Grallatorial birds, the crane and the 
 stork are now only heard of as stragglers from 
 their wonted courses. But it may be asked, 
 Have no species been introduced, have none 
 become more numerous, so as to balance or 
 replace these blanks in our Fauna ? There are a 
 few. The black-grouse has multiplied exceed- 
 ingly, delighting, as it were, in the protection of 
 man and in the reclaimed lands adjacent to the 
 wilder tracts ; the red-legged partridge has been 
 
76 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 introduced in the south-eastern counties ; and the 
 pheasant, the finest of our additions, has been 
 completely naturalized ; but these will fall far 
 short to compensate for the cock of the woods, 
 the " wilde horse," the bustard, or the red-grouse, 
 should the latter ultimately fail. 
 
 The proportion in which the different orders 
 occur may be interesting. According to one of 
 the latest lists, including all the species discovered 
 up to the end of 1836,* the whole number of 
 species which have been actually killed or taken 
 in Britain is 323. In this number the Raptores 
 amount to 30, the Incessores to 117, the Rasores 
 to 17, the Grallatores to 66, and the Natatores 
 to 93. In this enumeration of the extent of the 
 orders, the Natatores, or water-fowl, are the most 
 disproportionate, a fact which is easily accounted 
 for by the insular character of the country, and 
 the considerable extent of lakes and marsh which 
 occur in various parts. Of the Raptores none, 
 we believe, have been altogether lost, but the 
 abundance and generality of some of the larger 
 species have been much reduced from the reasons 
 we have already stated. Of the Incessores about 
 forty-nine species are migratory, leaving only 
 
 * A Nomenclature of British Birds, being a Systematic 
 Catalogue of all the Species hitherto discovered in Great 
 Britain and Ireland, intended for labelling Collections. By 
 Henry Doubleday. 1836. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 77 
 
 sixty-six really indigenous ; and this great relative 
 disproportion between the number of truly indige- 
 nous birds and the migratory species, occurs from 
 so many of the inhabitants of southern Europe 
 and the nearest coasts of Asia and Africa reaching 
 Great Britain as the extreme of their migration 
 northward ; and the opposite course makes the 
 great proportion of our winter migratory birds to 
 occur among the Grallatores and Natatores, which 
 travel southward, making our islands nearly the 
 limit of their range in that direction, while they 
 occupy the colder latitudes during the summer, 
 and perform in these solitudes the process of 
 moulting or the cares of incubation. Of the 
 Rasores two are now extinct, or very nearly 
 so ; three have been introduced ; two are summer 
 visitants, and one, the passenger pigeon, has only 
 occurred twice, reducing thus our indigenous list 
 by nearly a half. 
 
 The progress which British ornithology has 
 made has been steady and sure, but it has not 
 perhaps been very rapid. It has ever been a 
 favourite study with the naturalist, and in Britain, 
 previously to 1800, had a greater portion of care 
 bestowed upon it than upon the other branches of 
 the vertebrata. For our present purpose of giving 
 a very short sketch of its progress, it will not be 
 necessary to trace it to a mere distant period than 
 1678, the date of the work of Francis Willoughby, 
 
78 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and whence we would place the commencement 
 of our first era. This is a general work ; but it 
 is important to the British student, as giving an 
 early arrangement of our native birds, though 
 mingled with those from other countries. The 
 whole style of this work, and its illustrations, is 
 consonant with the date of the period of its 
 appearance, and when compared with the beau- 
 tiful publications of the present day, shews the 
 march of improvement, and should teach us to be 
 not too much impressed with the excellence of 
 our own productions, which, a hundred and fifty - 
 nine years hence, may be subjected to even a more 
 severe comparison. The letter-press is written 
 with the quaintness incident to the time, but is 
 expressed with that amiability of feeling which 
 was universally ascribed to the author, and con- 
 tains some curious facts regarding the abundance 
 of species that are now no more, or have much 
 decreased in numbers. Ray's Synopsis Avium et 
 Piscium appeared thirty-five years later, and con- 
 tained a more finished systematic arrangement. It 
 is known to have been much indebted to the 
 manuscripts of the writer's former friend and pupil, 
 to which was added the experience gained in the 
 intervening years. This work is necessary to the 
 student who wishes to trace the species from their 
 earlier descriptions. Some years later, (1731-8,1 
 the work of Eleazar Albin appeared, an illustrated 
 
INTRODUCTION. 79 
 
 work, but too general for the British student, and 
 now very little known. Advancing farther, in 
 1766 Pennant's British Zoology was published, 
 bearing more of the character of an illustrated 
 work, for which descriptions were more amply 
 furnished in later editions of a lesser size. This 
 work cleared the discrepancies of many of the 
 synonims, and hinted at the cause of confusion in 
 others which could not then be ascertained by 
 examination or experiment. In 1789? " The Birds 
 of Great Britain," by William Lewin, was com- 
 menced. It is a quarto book, was published in 
 numbers, and professes to give a figure of every 
 species. The plates are etchings, probably done 
 by the author, in many instances shewing good 
 drawing, though in general they are careless ; 
 birds are figured, however, which may be use- 
 ful in assisting to make out what were really 
 described by some of the authors previous or about 
 the same period, under such titles as Lanner, 
 Spotted Falcon, Grey Falcon, Grey Eagle, &c. 
 Figures of many eggs are also given. The 
 descriptive part is written in French and English, 
 but is very short, and enters into none of the 
 doubtful or difficult points of ornithology. Within 
 a few years of the same period, (about 1799t) two 
 works of a more decidedly illustrative character 
 began to be published ^Donovan's and Graves 
 British Birds. They appeared in periodical 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 parts. The first reached a tenth volume, and 
 contains two hundred and forty plates ; the second 
 was discontinued at the third volume, and with 
 the hundred and fourteenth plate. Both are 
 meritorious works, continued under the disadvan- 
 tages of great outlay and a limited circulation. 
 
 About the same date, or during the twenty 
 years of the conclusion and commencement of the 
 eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, great pro- 
 gress was making in all branches of zoology, and 
 works upon various plans were pouring from the 
 British and foreign presses ; but there were two 
 British works published now, which, though their 
 characters were very different, marked, we think, 
 the commencement of a second era in the advance 
 of British ornithology, and promoted, in different 
 ways, the love and knowledge of the science. In 
 1797, " Land Birds," by Thomas Bewick, was 
 published, having no splendid exterior, or deli- 
 cately coloured plates. This work gained, and 
 has kept its reputation, from the fidelity and cha- 
 racter peculiarly its own, which was infused into 
 the wood-cuts, and at the period of its appearance 
 contained the most complete list of our species, 
 generally plainly and concisely described. Its 
 price was moderate, and the vignettes, which filled 
 up the blank parts of the pages, rendered it popu- 
 lar from their humour. The later editions have 
 kept pace with the modern advances, and are now 
 
INTRODUCTION. 81 
 
 esteemed both by the ornithologist and artist. 
 The other work above alluded to will bear a higher 
 rank in science, though, perhaps, its general 
 patronage has not been nearly so ample. In 1802, 
 Colonel Montague published the first part of his 
 Ornithological Dictionary, a work professing no 
 arrangement, but having the titles of the birds 
 alphabetically arranged, as indicated by the title. 
 A few years afterwards, a supplement was found 
 necessary, and contained nearly as much as the 
 first publication. In these volumes we have a 
 great mass of information relative to the habits 
 and manners of our British birds, a department 
 which had been scarcely yet touched upon ; all 
 that was previously known was compiled, whil< 
 the whole results of the Colonel's experience are 
 given in addition. The subjects are ably treated ; 
 the confusion which had prevailed from the 
 changes of plumage incident to the young and to 
 the old, in breeding season and in winter, were 
 explained ; and many ingenious opinions, of which 
 proof had not been established, were then ex- 
 pressed, and of which the results have since 
 shewn with what accuracy the author had ob- 
 served. Several species werenow, for the first time, 
 described and added to our Fauna. 
 
 We have yet another work to notice before 
 we complete our brief survey of those devoted 
 more exclusively to this branch of the science. 
 
 F 
 
82 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Illustrations of British Ornithology, by P. J. 
 Selby, were commenced in 1826, and concluded 
 in 1833, a folio of two volumes, with octavo 
 descriptive letter-press. The price and magni- 
 tude of the plates preclude this work from the 
 libraries of most students; but the descriptive 
 part is indispensable, is moderate in price, and 
 contains ample yet condensed descriptions of 
 all our birds, arranged under the natural sys- 
 tem, and placed in the modern genera where 
 such have been considered necessary. The 
 illustrations, amounting to above one hundred, are 
 imbued with the character of the living birds, and 
 without harshness, are executed boldly by the 
 hands of the author himself. None but the pro- 
 fessed workman can have any idea of the labour 
 comprised in these two volumes of illustrations ; 
 and when it is considered that the drawings and 
 engravings of three hundred and twenty-seven 
 species of our British birds have been made and 
 finished of the size of life, with very few excep- 
 tions by one individual, this work will stand alone 
 as a monument of perseverance, while it is equally 
 honourable as a work of science and of art. 
 
 In this enumeration of the works devoted to 
 our favourite science, we have only noticed those 
 which were confined to the subject. There are 
 several works not exclusively treating of the 
 department, which may be consulted with profit. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 83 
 
 The Supplement to Shaw's General Zoology will 
 be found useful, as giving the characters of the 
 modern genera, in which many of our native 
 soecies, particularly the Natatores, will range. 
 Fleming's British Animals gives a synopsis of our 
 species, Turton's British Fauna contains another, 
 and the British Vertebrata of Jenyngs gives a 
 third, brought down to the commencement of the 
 last year. Many valuable papers have also ap- 
 peared in our transactions and periodicals, which, 
 however, are generally quoted in the works which 
 we have mentioned above, and in these the names 
 of Edwards, Forster, Walcot, Latham, Montague, 
 Wilson, Fleming, Selby, and Yarrell, may be 
 mentioned as all contributing to our stock of 
 information.* 
 
 * One or two works have been omitted, which, though 
 they should be mentioned as indicating the progress, are 
 not at all necessary for the British ornithologist, Lord's 
 British Birds, published in 1791, folio, vyith ninety-six 
 plates ; Hunt's British Ornithology, published in 1815, 
 reached thirteen parts, with twelve plates in each ; Syme's 
 British Song Birds, published in 1823, a work with very 
 pretty figures, and good directions for breeding and rearing 
 cage birds ; Rennie's edition of Montague's Ornithological 
 Dictionary, published in 1831. 
 
 Among the very modern works may be noted, Ey ton's 
 Rarer British Birds, a useful supplement to Bewick, 
 Mudie's- Feathered Tribes, Wood's Song Birds, and Mac- 
 gilivray's Raptores, &c. ; and we are waiting with anxiety 
 to see the first number of a new work, from which we 
 expect much, British Birds by William Yarreli. 
 
84 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 We shall now proceed to the more detailed 
 history of our native birds, reserving remarks 
 upon their structure, habits, and geographical 
 distribution, to come into the description of the 
 different families. 
 
85 
 
 RAPTORES, OR BIRDS OF PREY.* 
 
 THE order Raptor es^ or Birds of Prey, 
 has hitherto been placed first in our systems, 
 though among quadrupeds, many writers have 
 chosen to place the quadruminous animals, which 
 are analogous to the perching birds, or second 
 order in the arrangement, at the commencement. 
 This, though of little consequence in one respect, 
 shews an irregularity of system which it would be 
 better to avoid ; and placing the Raptores first 
 now, is done with the intention, that the Ferae, 
 their representatives among the Mammalia, should 
 stand in a similar situation. 
 
 Among most of the ornithological writers, 
 previous to 1800, this first order was made to 
 contain three very natural families, the vultures, 
 
 \Ve must here offer our acknowledgments to William 
 Thompson, Esq. of Belfast, for all the information we 
 have been able to give regarding the Raptores of Ireland. 
 That gentleman has kindly communicated to us the results 
 of his observations on this part of the Fauna of Ireland ; 
 and we have strong anticipations that ere long he will 
 advance our knowledge of the Fauna upon an equality 
 with what Mr Mackay has done for that of the Flora. See 
 the detailed paper, Mag. Zool. et Dot. ii. p. 42. 
 
86 RAPTOUES. 
 
 falcons, and owls ; the shrikes were for a time 
 also admitted, and on the discovery of the 
 African secretary, or snake eater, it was placed 
 among the vultures ; but about the period we 
 have just mentioned, a work was published in 
 London, which, though destined from peculiar 
 circumstances to have only a most limited circu- 
 lation, was, nevertheless, in this country, the 
 commencement of a new era in systematic 
 arrangement. Macleay's Horae Entomologies, 
 to the few who possessed a copy, and could 
 appreciate its views, gave a new incitement to 
 work; but the principles of the theory of repre- 
 sentation being only in this work applied, to the 
 class of insects, few other naturalists took the 
 trouble to investigate them, or to try their 
 applipation to any other branch. Towards the 
 end of 1823, Mr Vigors, well known as a zoolo- 
 gist, in a paper read before the Linnsean Society, 
 and published in its transactions, attempted to 
 arrange the class of birds according to the theory 
 proposed in Macleay's Horae ; and though we 
 cannot subscribe to all the views which are laid 
 down in this paper, we are fully aware of its 
 great importance to ornithology at the time, and 
 look upon it as most valuable in first pointing 
 out many of the primary groups, and in calling 
 attention to some curious and varied views. We 
 may also remark, that the materials then to be 
 
RAPTORES. 87 
 
 procured in London were scanty, and not at all 
 adequate for the proper working out of the sub- 
 ject. Mr Vigors, in his arrangement, maintained 
 the vultures, falcons, and owls, as three of the 
 primary groups, but added to them as the type 
 of a fourth family, gypogeranus, while he left 
 the fifth unfilled up, as either extinct or presently 
 unknown to science. Mr Swainson seems nearly 
 at the same period to have taken up the study of 
 this subject ; and soon after the publication of Mr 
 Vigors' views, many ornithological papers by the 
 former zoologist appeared in the periodical publi- 
 cations, arranging some groups upon different, 
 but upon what he considered to be the correct 
 principles. The same gentleman has, since 
 these writings, given to the public his matured 
 views of this curious and interesting subject, 
 made out from more ample materials and repeated 
 examinations, and he has arranged the raptores 
 as vultures, falcons, owls, adding to them, as 
 typical of a fourth family, the no\v extinct dodo, 
 (and of whose alliance we think there is little 
 doubt,) but placing gypogeranus (Mr Vigors' 
 gypogeranidce) as the grallatorical type of the 
 vultures, and leaving, as before, the fifth family 
 still unaccounted for. This is the latest arrange- 
 ment up to the present time ; but looking at our 
 restricted knowledge of this order of birds, their 
 comparatively limited numbers, the difficulty of 
 
88 RAPTOIIES. 
 
 procuring specimens, from their shy dispositions, 
 and the inaccessible and wild nature of their 
 haunts, it is more than probable that several 
 modifications of form yet remain undiscovered, 
 whose appearance would release from difficulty 
 the attempts which are made " to place them all 
 in order." 
 
 In the theory of representation, which we have 
 seen has been lately so much insisted on, the 
 rapacious birds and carnivorous animals are 
 strikingly typified by each other. In the prin- 
 cipal forms of each we have the strongest crea- 
 tures in* existence, and both are generally, of a 
 large size. Their dispositions are fierce and 
 daring, and we see the whole frame suited for 
 swift pursuit or powerful action. The sight is 
 remarkably acute ; in some, groups more pecu- 
 liarly so by night, and in these the sense of hear- 
 ing is also delicate. The organs of mastication are 
 fitted for tearing, as may be seen in the powerful 
 canines of the Ferae, and the strong and toothed 
 bills of the Falconidae. The claws are large, 
 curved, sharp, and retractile. No portion of the 
 world is without Raptorial animals, and accor- 
 ding to the all-wise constitution of the laws 
 which regulate animated nature, no other system 
 could long exist, saving that which produced a 
 salutary check upon over production, and a 
 balance of power between all creatures. But, 
 
RAPTORES. 89 
 
 besides this keeping in check of over production, 
 by the preying of one tribe upon a weaker race, 
 another provision has been considered, that of 
 the removal of animal matter where heat renders 
 putridity when life is extinct almost instan- 
 taneous, and where there is commonly, from 
 various circumstances, at the same time a great 
 expense of animal life. It is thus that we find 
 in the warmer climates the most abundant distri- 
 bution of the vultures, which decrease as they 
 reach the north, and in our own country cease, 
 with the rare examples of the species with which 
 our present volume commences. The Falconidae, 
 again, are more universal in their proportional 
 distribution, but we find the stronger or more 
 typical species abounding in the temperate 
 regions ; while in those countries possessing a 
 greater degree of heat, and between the tropics, 
 we see the forms more variously distributed, and 
 a greater proportion of those small or very 
 weakly formed species, which serve to keep in 
 check the multitudes of small lizards and reptiles, 
 with the countless hosts of insects which are 
 there so extremely destructive ; and it is remark- 
 able that a most formidable tribe, the Gryllidae, 
 to which the locust belongs, is one of the most 
 eagerly hunted after by those smaller falcons. 
 The Strigidae, or owls, are also universal in their 
 distribution, and prey mostly on the smaller 
 
90 RAPTORES. 
 
 mammalia ; a very great proportion of which are 
 also nocturnal in their habits, and being chiefly 
 herbivorous or frugivorous, would, if allowed to 
 overrun, as has been at times experienced, cause 
 almost incalculable loss to the cultivators of the 
 soil, or nearly clear from the ground those plants 
 which are so bountifully supplied for the necessi- 
 ties of man, and the support of the ruminating 
 animals as well as their own smaller wants. 
 We shall now notice the families in detail. 
 

 VULTUUIDJE. 
 
 As the British Fauna can only lay claim to a 
 single species of this family, and that in the cha- 
 racter of an extremely rare visitant, we do not 
 propose to enter into many introductory remarks. 
 
 The Vulturidae have universally been looked 
 upon with a kind of disgust. Ungraceful in form, 
 of loose and ill-kept plumage, and except when 
 satisfying the cravings of hunger, or during the 
 season of incubation, of sluggish and inactive 
 manners, they present nothing attractive ; while 
 carrion being generally mentioned as their com- 
 mon food, associations have beoft created of the 
 most Jiathsome character. They are not, how- 
 ever, without utility, for in the warmer regions 
 of the world they consume the animal remains, 
 which, without the assistance of these birds, the 
 more ignoble carnivorous quadrupeds, and the 
 myriads of carcase-eating insects, would soon 
 spread pestilence around. In many parts of Spain 
 and Southern Europe our British visitant is 
 allowed to roam unmolested ; in America the 
 species there traverse the towns, and are kept in 
 
92 
 
 the market places to devour and clean up offal ; 
 and in India vultures are observed with super- 
 stitious awe, and penalties are inflicted on their 
 disturbers. Our British visitant is typical of 
 the Genus Neophron. 
 

 GENUS NEOPHRON. Savigny, 
 
 Now generally adopted by ornithologists, used 
 by Mr Vigors as one of the five forms which 
 compose the family, and considered by that natu- 
 ralist to connect the Raptores with the Natatores 
 by the nearly similar form and shape of the bill 
 to that of Tachypetes or the Fregate Pelicans, 
 and also by the long and amply developed wings. 
 It is evidently an aberrant form ; its members are 
 comparatively weak, and the plumage of the neck 
 runs farther upon the head than in the more 
 typical species. Mr Swainson, in his " Classifi- 
 cation," hints at the probability of Neophron 
 being the Grallatorial genus of the vultures. 
 
 Generic characters. Bill lengthened, slender, 
 straight, with a distinctly hooked tip ; max- 
 illa without any angle ; cere extending half 
 the length of the bill ; nostrils longitudinal, 
 nearly parallel with the margins of the bill ; 
 
94 NEOPHRON. 
 
 anterior part of the head and face naked ; 
 neck covered with accuminated feathers ; 
 wings ample, third quill longest ; legs of 
 mean length and strength ; tarsi reticulated ; 
 toes united at the base ; claws strong, 
 slightly hooked and blunt. 
 
 Native country. Southern Europe, Asia, 
 Africa ; chiefly the latter and the European 
 coast adjacent. 
 
THE EGYPTIAN NEOPHRON. 
 
 Neophron percnop terns S AVION Y . 
 PLATE I. 
 
 Neophron percuopterus, Savigny, Oi's. de P Egypt e, pi. 16. 
 Catharte alimoche, Cathartes percnopterus, Temm. 
 Man. i. p. 8 Egyptian Neophron, Selby's Illustrations:, 
 pi. A Ornithol. Illust. by Sir W. Jardine and P. J. 
 Selby, pi. XXXIII. (from the specimen killed in Somer- 
 setshire.) Gould's Birds of Europe, adult and young. 
 Ey ton's Rarer British Birds. Yarrells British Birds. 
 
 AFRICA appears to be the stronghold of this 
 Neophron. We have received it from the vicinity 
 of the Cape of Good Hope. It is noted by various 
 travellers to occur on the northern ccssts, and on 
 the shores opposed to Europe it is extremely 
 abundant ; whence, crossing to Southern Europe, 
 the frequency continues, but gradually decreases 
 as we advance northward, and France and Bri- 
 tain may be accounted the utmost limits to which 
 wanderers occasionally stray. Notwithstanding, 
 however, its great abt ndance in Spain and the 
 opposite African shores, we have no record of its 
 habits. Its general food appears to be carrion in 
 all its forms, and in some parts it is protected on 
 

 KEG t'UKON 
 
Or THE 
 
 \ NJVEKSIT? 
 
EGYPTIAN NEOPHRON. 97 
 
 account of its utility in clearing off putrid sub- 
 stances ;* at the same time, it is said occasionally 
 to feed on reptiles and the smaller animals. Of 
 its nidification we are equally ignorant. Accord- 
 ing to Temminck, it breeds in the most inacces- 
 sible places, in the holes or fissures of some per- 
 pendicular cliff; but the source of this information 
 is not mentioned, neither the number or colour of 
 the eggs. Mr Bruce again adds to his descrip- 
 tion, " It lays but two eggs, and builds its nest in 
 the most desert parts of the country." 
 
 The single specimen upon which we rank this 
 species as an occasional " British visitant," was 
 killed on the shores of the British Channel in 
 October, 1825, and came into the possession of 
 the Rev. A. Mathew of Kilve, in Somersetshire.! 
 When first discovered, it was feeding on the car- 
 case of a dead sheep, and had so gorged itself 
 with the carrion as to be unable or unwilling to 
 fly to any great distance at a time ; it was there- 
 fore approached without much difficulty and shot. 
 Another bird, apparently of this species, was seen 
 at the same time upon the wing at no great dis- 
 
 * This is the Rachmah of Bruce, who states that it is a 
 very great breach of order, or of police, to kill or molest 
 these birds near Cairo App. 163. 
 
 t Mr Mudie, in his " Feathered Tribes," mentions a 
 pair having been seen in the vicinity of Bridgewater in 
 1826, but he does not notice the above. Has he mistaken 
 the place and date of the capture ? 
 G 
 
98 EGYPTIAN NEOPHRON. 
 
 tance, but could never be approached within gun- 
 shot. The specimen procured at this time, which 
 its owner kindly sent to Twizel House for the 
 purpose of being introduced into the " Illustra- 
 tions of British Ornithology," we then saw. It 
 was in immature plumage, the dark feathers of 
 the young beautifully mixed with others of a rich 
 cream-yellow. The colour of the naked skin on 
 \\\Q head was of a livid flesh-coloured red, that of 
 the legs of a pale yellowish grey. 
 
 The adult birds have the plumage nearly of 
 a uniform yellowish white or cream colour, 
 excepting the quills, inner webs, and base of 
 \he secondaries ; the former are blackish, the 
 latter liver brown, which, on the outer webs, 
 gradually shades into the cream colour. The 
 feathers on the hind head and neck, are lan- 
 ceolate, very pointed and hackled, and appear 
 to be occasionally raised when the bird is either 
 under the impulse of fear or anger. The head, 
 before the ears is bare of feathers, a few straggling 
 hair-like tufts appearing on the chin, and mark- 
 ing superciliary ridges and a circle around the 
 ears. The skin, on these parts, in the adult 
 birds is gamboge yellow ; but in the Somer- 
 setshire specimen above alluded to, which we 
 saw before it was dried, the colour was livid, 
 this undergoes a change as the bird approaches 
 its mature state. The length of specimens from 
 Southern Africa, is two feet two or three inches. 
 
EGYPTIAN NEOPHRON. 99 
 
 The young of the year, have the head thinly 
 covered with down, and, as observed, have the 
 colouring of the uncovered parts of a less clear 
 appearance than in the adults ; the plumage is 
 entirely of a dull blackish brown with yellowish 
 spots on the tips of the feathers. The quills how- 
 ever are black, though not of so clear a tint as in 
 the old birds. In approaching to maturity, the 
 dark parts of the plumage assume a rich purplish 
 brown tint, the feathers appear more glossy, and 
 these dark parts afford a pleasing and strong 
 contrast with the cream yellow of body. 
 
 We shall now enter upon the second family of 
 the Ilaptores 
 
130 
 
 FALCONID^E. 
 
 THE Falconidae are the typical, consequently 
 the most numerous family of the Raptorial birds. 
 They represent here the more noble Felidaa 
 among the Ferae, as the vultures did the more 
 ignoble carcase devouring dogs, wolves and 
 hyenas of the same family. Their prey is almost 
 always seized by their own energies, either on 
 the wing, or pounced on by surprise in cover, 
 or on the ground ; it consists of nearly the whole 
 animal kingdom, quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, 
 fishes, and the larger species of insects. One or 
 two examples, however, do occur among the 
 most aberrant groups in foreign countries, where 
 carrion, or at least animals which the birds have 
 not themselves destroyed, serve as food, and 
 we have observed an occasional instance of it in 
 the common harrier of Europe, (circus cyaneus?) 
 feeding on the fish which remained dead about 
 the stake nets during the reflux of the tide. 
 Confinement immediately so far changes the 
 nature of all,* that dead food is eagerly seized 
 
 * Audubon, speaking of the Great-footed Hawk, (Pere- 
 grine Falcon,) remarks, " They occasionally feed on dead 
 
101 
 
 and eaten, but we have always remarked that 
 among the more noble, the Peregrine Falcon, 
 for instance, the taste, if we may use the expres- 
 sion, was more refined ; tainted food was always 
 refused, and so also was some of the strongly 
 scented mammalia ; polecats or weasels were never 
 eaten, and even a cat was not esteemed savoury, 
 whereas a hare or rabbit would have been at 
 once devoured. It may be remarked here, that 
 in these two corresponding families of quadrupeds 
 and birds, members of each have been trained to 
 hunt and kill game for the sport or use of man. 
 
 In form and structure, these birds are very 
 powerfully made ; intended for rapine, they 
 possess corresponding organs of great muscular 
 strength, both to pursue and to tear, and to hold 
 their prey when secured. In the wings of those 
 possessing the most strong and rapid flight, we 
 have a lengthened and accuminated form, narrow 
 feathers, but of firm consistency, and when dis- 
 played or spread presenting an even surface of 
 resistance to the air. The moving muscles are 
 large and powerful, particularly the pectorals, 
 which are furnished with an expanded insertion 
 
 fish that have floated to the shores of the sandbars ; I 
 saw several of them thus occupied while descending the 
 Mississippi," (vol. i. p. 87.) This is at variance with 
 every thing I have observed regarding the habits of the 
 British Peregrine ; but in confinement, I have knows 
 the young to have been fed upon trouts. 
 
102 FALCONID^:. 
 
 into the broad sternum and its deep keel. The 
 clavicles are also strong, and the os furcatorius, 
 which is circular, broad and strong, affords a firm 
 support to the shoulders.* The bill, having a 
 strong tooth in the species most truly rapacious, 
 is really a tearing instrument, as much so as 
 the powerful canines of the Felidae. The legs 
 and feet possess immense muscular power, and 
 the claws, remarkably sharp, are also retractile, 
 (though by a different process,) as among their 
 feline representatives. The intestinal canal and 
 digestive organs present gradations between the 
 membranous pouch of the true birds of prey, to 
 the muscular gizzard of other orders, according 
 to the food they particularly select,f and the 
 former is comparatively short and wide, or narrow 
 and very lengthened ; the latter modification is 
 seen in those which prey on fish, and thus, to a 
 certain extent, those species agree in proportions 
 with the digestive canal of the Ichthyophagous 
 Ferae.J 
 
 In the language of the natural system, the 
 Falconidae are separated into Typical, Subtypical, 
 and Aberrant groups, all of which are so far 
 represented by the birds in our own country ; 
 
 * See some interesting remarks on the anatomy of 
 birds of prey by Mr Yarrell, Zool. Journal, No. X. 
 p. 151. 
 
 t Yarrell, 1. c. 
 
 t See paper by Mr Macgillivray " On digestive organ* 
 of birds," in Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. L o. 125. 
 
FALCONHXE. 103 
 
 but they also contain many foreign genera, by 
 which their connection can only be satisfactorily 
 made out. 
 
 The Typical or Falconine division, tne 
 
 FALCONINJE, FALCONS, 
 
 is seen in the Jer and Peregrine Falcons, the 
 Merlin, &c. and in these we have the form for 
 rapine developed to the utmost ; compact, power- 
 ful, muscular ; the bill strong, with a lacerating 
 tooth ; the wings pointed, -the quills of firm tex- 
 ture, the second and third longest ; the legs and 
 feet very muscular, the latter with the clawa 
 formed for grasping strongly ; the manner of 
 flying rapid, decided, not gliding or soaring in 
 watch ; the prey almost always struck during 
 flight ; breeding places most generally precipitous 
 rocks. 
 
 The colour of the eggs of birds is nearly con- 
 stant in the greater divisions, and the family to 
 which any species belongs may be known with 
 tolerable certainty from the form and markings, 
 and general colour of the eggs. In illustration ot 
 this we shall introduce into these volumes figures 
 of the eggs of the principal groups of our native 
 birds. Among the true Falcons the egg is always 
 rather round in form, the prevailing colour dif- 
 ferent shades of reddish brown, with numerous 
 irregular markings of a darker shade ; and the 
 
104 FALCONID^E. 
 
 resemblance between those of different species is 
 sometimes so close that they can scarcely be with 
 certainty distinguished. Figs. 1 and 2 on plate II. 
 will illustrate the form and colouring of those of 
 the true Falcons. 
 
 The true Falcons amount in Britain to six 
 species. Their geographical distribution is va- 
 rious. The Jer Falcon is only a straggler here ; 
 Northern Europe with North America, are its 
 strongholds. The Peregrine Falcon is pretty 
 generally distributed over the temperate districts 
 of Europe, where the country is alpine or the 
 *ea coast precipitous, and it extends also to the 
 American continent.* The Merlin is European, 
 perhaps also North American.^ The Hobby is 
 European, and visits us as a migratory bird in 
 summer, keeping, however, to the southern dis- 
 tricts. The Kestrel is one of the most abundant 
 species in temperate Europe, but diminishes in 
 numbers as the south is approached, becoming 
 there represented by another species, which, on 
 the African shores, is again represented by a 
 third. This bird was noted by Mr Carruthers 
 
 * We are not satisfied that the bird described in the 
 Linnaean Society's transactions from their museum, as 
 the Peregrine, is identical with the bird of Europe. We 
 possess a New Holland Falcon, closely allied, but quite 
 distinct. 
 
 t See description for our opinion of the distribution of 
 this species. 
 
PLATE 2. 
 
 Merlin 
 
105 
 
 as inhabiting the island of Madeira,* but as a 
 specimen was not procured, we are perhaps not 
 warranted in asserting that it was not one of the 
 very closely allied species of Afrina or Spain ; at 
 the same time, we have seen it recorded in lists 
 of birds from Africa, on which wo could place 
 some dependence. It is recorded by Major 
 James Franklin as occurring on the Ganges 
 between Calcutta and Benares ; f by Dr Horsfie'ui 
 it is said to be Javanese ; Mr Selby also mentions 
 having received the Kestrel from continental 
 India, with this distinction only, that the colours 
 of the female birds were paler ; J and by Colonel 
 Sykes it has been noted as inhabiting the Dun- 
 kun. If these facts can be depended on, and 
 their value must be judged of by our readers, we 
 have for this bird an extensive range, particularly 
 to the south. It does not, however, seem to 
 reach to an equal extent to the northward as the 
 strong and powerful Jer and Peregrine Falcons, 
 but on the American continent is replaced by the 
 beautiful little F. sparverius, which in many 
 respects partakes of the same manners, though 
 we have in them also a considerable blending with 
 those of the Merlin. 
 
 * Edinburgh Journal of Natural and Geographical 
 Science. 
 
 t Proceed, of Zool. Society, part i. p. 1 14. 
 
 I British Ornithology, vol. i. p. 49. 
 
 i Proceed, of Zooi. Society, part ii. p. 80. 
 
1(6 
 
 FALCONJD-E. 
 
 Merlin. 
 
 Jer Falcon. 
 
 LALCO, generic characters. Bill comparatively 
 short, curved from the base, the mandible 
 furnished with an angular tooth near its 
 point, fitting into a corresponding notch in 
 the maxilla ; nostrils circular ; wings long, 
 accuminated, second quill longest, and the 
 three or four first notched on their inner 
 webs ; tarsi short, muscular, reticulated ; 
 outer and inner toes unequal in length; 
 claws hooked, short, that of the hind toe 
 longest. 
 
 Note. They are cosmopolite ; breed generally 
 on precipitous cliffs ; solitary ; strike their 
 prey on the wing ; are trained occasionally 
 for the chase. 
 

 .1 ER F; 
 
107 
 
 THE JER FALCON. 
 
 Falco Islandicus, Latham. 
 PLATE III 
 
 Hierofalco Islandicus, Cuv. Reg. Anim. i. 323. Gryfalco 
 Islandicus, Brisson, (immature plumage.) Gyrfalcon, 
 Pennant, Brit. Zool. Faucon Gerfaut, Temminck, 
 Man.i. 17. Gryfalco candicans, Fleming, Brit. Anim 
 The Jerfalcon, Montague, Lowe, Bewick, Selby, Yarrell. 
 
 The Baron Cuvier applied to this bird the 
 generic appellation of Hierofalco^ placing it at the 
 conclusion of his true falcons ; and our country- 
 man Dr Fleming, gives it the same situation, 
 using Brisson's title of Gryfalco. The absence 
 of the lacerating tooth upon the mandible is the 
 reason assigned for the removal, as all the other 
 parts of the form are acknowledged to be quite 
 typical. In all the specimens we have seen, the 
 tooth has been fully, and in some strongly 
 developed ; and we suspect that the want of it is 
 an accidental or occasional circumstance ; in 
 the wood-cut, p. 106, taken from a Scottish 
 specimen, it will be seen strongly marked. 
 
 We can only rank this fine species as an 
 occasional straggler among us, and even in the 
 
108 
 
 olden time of falconry it does not appear to have 
 been more abundant ; they were then sought for 
 abroad, and very high prices were paid for them. 
 The range of the Jer-Falcon seems to be the more 
 northern districts of Europe and America. Iceland 
 was and is one of its most famed strongholds the 
 capital, so far as the sporting world was concerned 
 and furnished at a large amount the sorts which 
 were in most esteem in the countries where this 
 ancient sport was pursued.* It spreads also along 
 the precipitous coasts of Norway and Sweden, 
 
 * Mr Gould states in his " Birds of Europe" that the 
 falconers who visit this country with their trained falcons 
 for sale, all agree in declaring, that the Jer-falcon, which 
 they obtain in Norway, is a different bird from that which 
 they consider the true falcon of Iceland. It differs in 
 the length of the wings compared with that of the tail. 
 Those from Iceland are most rare. 
 
 The sport of falconry has been long in almost com- 
 plete disuse, but may be said to be now commencing its 
 revival. Several gentlemen at present possess regular 
 hawking establishments. As a royal appointment it is still 
 kept up, and the accompanying extract will shew that it 
 is not merely nominal : 
 
 *' Friday being the return of the Duchess of St Albans* 
 natal day, it was intended to devote the morning to a 
 hawking party, but the weather was so stormy that the 
 display of falconry was obliged to be postponed till Mon- 
 day. At noon on that day, the Grand Fauconnier repaired 
 to the Downs, about two miles this side the Dyke, near 
 the old Henfield-road, with his matchless hawks. Eight 
 flights were made, and each time they killed their bird, 
 with a single exception, when the pigeon being struck 
 rery hard it towered so high that the falcon could not 
 
JEU FALCON 109 
 
 Greenland, and all those ranges of ice-bound 
 shores which verge upon the Arctic latitudes. Dr 
 Richardson mentions it as a constant resident in 
 the Hudson Bay territories, and has ascertained 
 it reaching as far south as fifty-two degrees ; and 
 Mr Audubon found several pairs breeding on the 
 coast of Labrador. In Britain an occasional spe- 
 cimen is killed, and perhaps finds its way to some 
 public or private collection. Thus in England it 
 is extremely rare,* and north of the Tweed almost 
 as much so; even in Orkney and Shetland Mr 
 Lowe considers it as a visiter, and we are not 
 aware of any instance of the nest being found. 
 
 reach it again. In one case, the bird, after being struck, 
 flew under the carriages for shelter; but the dauntless hawk, 
 which is distinguished by the name of General, pursued 
 him so closely that he had a narrow escape of being trodden 
 under foot by the affrighted horses. In one instance, when 
 one of the falconers alighted from his horse to retake the 
 hawk, the animal started off at full speed, but was pursued 
 and overtaken by his Grace. With the exception of two 
 all the hawks used on Monday were young birds. There 
 were many more equipages on the ground to witness this 
 novel sport than our late races attracted, with a great 
 number of hired vehicles, and horsemen and pedestrians 
 by the hundred. After the sports of the field, their Graces 
 gave a public breakfast at St Albans' House, at which two 
 of the falcons, the Duchess' and * the General, 1 were 
 exhibited to the company, and much admired." Brighton 
 Guardian, 1836 " 
 
 * A specimen of the Jer Falcon was shot at Storth- 
 waite, a few miles from York, on the 15th of last 
 February Thos. Allis, York, Naturalist, No. vii. p. 53. 
 
110 JER FALCON. 
 
 It is equally so in Ireland, the MSS. of the late 
 John Templeton record a single specimen, ana a 
 letter addressed to Mr Thompson of Belfast, so 
 late as February, 1837, from J. Stewart. Esq. 
 mentions a specimen killed in a rabbit warren 
 close to Dunfanaghy. It is truly a northern 
 and maritime species maritime most probably 
 from the abundance of food which is generally 
 found around the rocky shores of its principal 
 range, the breeding resort of numberless sea fowl. 
 The manners, flight, and cry, approach very 
 closely to those of the Peregrine, it is even a more 
 daring bird, and like it delights to have its eyerie 
 on some precipitous cliff overhanging the sea. 
 The nest, according to Mr Audubon, is composed 
 of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, but the eggs 
 seem not yet authentically known, though we 
 have some descriptions of them as resembling 
 those of the Ptarmigan.* When approaching the 
 nest, it becomes very clamorous, descending on 
 the aggressor in sudden swoops. Dr Richardson 
 writes, " A pair of these birds attacked me as I 
 was climbing in the vicinity of their nest, built 
 on a lofty precipice, on the borders of Point Lake. 
 They flew in circles, uttering loud cries and harsh 
 
 * Mr Yarrell mentions that two specimens of eggs in his 
 collection, " believed to belong to this species," are 
 " mottled all over with a pale reddish brown on a dull 
 white ground. "Brit. Birds, p. 28. 
 
JER FALCON. Jll 
 
 ms, and alternately stooping with such velo- 
 ty that their motion through the air produced a 
 loud rustling noise. They thrust their claws 
 within an inch or two of my head."* Their food 
 is both the small animals and sea-fowl in their 
 vicinity, but they also make more extended excur- 
 sions inland, where the grouse and other game 
 form a most favourite and much sought after 
 repast, and in the fur countries they follow the 
 partial migrations of the ptarmigan. The stomachs 
 of the birds dissected by Mr Audubonf contained, 
 among other remains, those of fish, but these may 
 have been derived from the intestines of the sea- 
 fowl on which they had been preying, not from 
 fish taken by their own exertions. 
 
 The form of the Jer Falcon is very strong and 
 muscular, the tail is rather longer in proportion 
 than that of the Perigrine, and the tarsi are fea- 
 thered for an inch and three quarters downwards. 
 The length of an adult seems to be from twenty to 
 twenty-four inches. The mature bird is nearly 
 white, spotted only above. Dr Richardson's de- 
 scription is, " The head is entirely white, and the 
 neck nearly so, there being only a few central brown 
 marks on the feathers of the nape. On the back 
 clove brown forms a pyriform blotch on each fea- 
 ther, and on the rump it is confined to a narrow 
 
 * Northern Zoology, ii. p. 27. 
 t Richardson, I, 9 
 
112 JER FALCON. 
 
 streak along the shaft. The spots are smaller on 
 the lesser wing coverts, and on the greater 
 coverts, secondaries and scapularies, the brown is 
 disposed in bars, which do not reach the margins 
 of the feathers. The primaries are white, their 
 shafts and one or two inches of their ends only 
 being blackish brown ; they are narrowly edged 
 at the tips with white. The tail feathers and 
 their coverts are entirely white. The whole under 
 surface of the bird is pure white, except the ends 
 of the feathers, which are hair brown. The bill 
 is pale greenish grey, becoming darker at the tip ; 
 cere and lores wax yellow ; legs yellow." 
 
 In an adult bird from Hudson's Bay now 
 before us, the length is 23 inches. The crown and 
 under parts are pure white, a narrow lengthened 
 streak running along the feathers on the sides of 
 the breasts and flanks. The crown and cheeks 
 have the shafts only black. The tail is also pure 
 white, the shafts of the centre feathers only being 
 dark brown ; the outer feathers are about half an 
 inch shorter than those in the centre. 
 
 The following is the description of a Scotch 
 specimen in the collection at Twizel House. It 
 was shot by Mr Scobie on his- farm of Keoldale, 
 in the northern extremity of Sutherlandshire, 
 during the winter of 1835. The chin and throat 
 are pure white, the feathers of the crown with 
 deep hair brown shafts, those of the nape with the 
 
JER FALCON. 113 
 
 brown a little extended on each side the shaft. 
 Back and wing coverts, with the central part of 
 each feather, hair, inclining to clove brown, the 
 margin all around being pure white; the greater 
 coverts and secondaries are barred with hair 
 brown. The greater quills have their tips, to the 
 extent of nearly two inches, deep hair brown nar- 
 rowly margined with white ; the exterior circles 
 barred with brown, the interior with imperfect 
 bars, or, as in the first and second quills, with a 
 narrow list of brown along the, side of the shaft 
 The tail is white, except the two central feathers, 
 which are barred with brown ; the bars on the 
 exterior web, imperfect, or not reaching the edge 
 of the feathers. The outermost tail feather on 
 each side is nearly half an inch shorter than the 
 rest. The breast and abdomen are white, each 
 feather having the shaft and a portion on each 
 side of it hair brown, forming gut ti form spots, 
 which decrease in size from the breast down- 
 wards. The breast, the thighs, and under tail 
 coverts, are immaculate white. The bill is of a 
 pale bluish gray, the tooth In the. upper man- 
 dible, and the notch in the lower, both strongly 
 developed. Legs and feet bluish gray. From the 
 manner in which the skin has been taken off 
 and preserved, the correct dimensions cannot be 
 ascertained.* 
 
 * Selby MSS. 
 B 
 
114 
 
 JER FALCON. 
 
 the young of the year, the colour* is mostly 
 of a dull brown, little white being at all visible. 
 As they grow in age, the white increases, the dark 
 parts of the feathers narrowing to a central blotch ; 
 and in the mature birds white becomes the pre- 
 dominating colour : some birds are nearly white 
 altogether, but, as hinted at by Dr Richardson, 
 this state may be a variation only sometimes 
 occurring, specimens in this plumage being cer 
 tainly rare. Our next species is 
 
 * Richardson, No. 2, c. 29. 
 
RINK FALCON. 
 
115 
 
 THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 Falco pereyrinus. LINNAEUS. 
 PLATE IV. 
 
 Falco peregrinus, Auctorum. Faucon pellerin, fernm. 
 i. 22. Peregrine, or Peregrine Falcon, of Bnt. 
 authors. Great-footed Hawk, Wilson, N. A. Ornitlu/t. 
 ix. p. 120 __ (F. Barbaras, and Tartarian Falcon, of 
 Latham, often placed in the synonimes of this bird, are 
 very questionable.) Provincially named, Duck Hawk, 
 Blue Hawk, Game Hawk, Cliff Hawk. 
 
 The Peregrine is one of the strongest and 
 most beautifully formed birds of its section. It is 
 hardly so long inform as the Jer Falcon, nor does 
 it weigh so heavily ; but the male Peregrine, 
 when in high plumage and condition, exhibits a 
 compact muscularity of shape, and an open and 
 bold expression, which approach closely to our 
 idea of the symmetry of a bird, formed in all its 
 proportions for swift pursuit and rapine. 
 
 The Peregrine, though not common, nor of 
 very equal distribution over the country, can 
 scarcely be called a rare bird : in several favour- 
 able districts it is even frequent. In the rich low 
 lying lands of England, it is only met with as a 
 
116 PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 straggler, but in the mountainous counties, part of 
 Yorkshire, for instance, and in the border coun- 
 ties, and many parts of Wales, its eyries were 
 frequent and are still found. On entering the 
 Scottish frontier, it is still more common, be- 
 comes rarer in the lower and richer valley of the 
 Forth or Mid-Lothian ; but on crossing this, and 
 entering the Highland ranges, it again prevails. 
 In Ireland, it is also found : Mr Thompson writes, 
 " It may be stated in general terms, that the 
 Peregrine Falcon occurs in suitable localities 
 throughout Ireland. In the four maritime coun- 
 ties of Ulster, it has many eyries, and in Antrim, 
 whose basaltic precipices are favourable for this 
 purpose, seven, at least, might be enumerated : of 
 these only one is inland."* On the Scottish 
 coasts, almost every precipitous headland is pos- 
 sessed by a pair of " Blue Hawks," and similar 
 situations elsewhere are the most favourite breed- 
 ing places of the species, selected, most likely, as 
 by the Jer Falcon, on account of the abundant 
 provender which also nestles around them. Many 
 pairs, however, also breed inland, and the moun- 
 tain ranges on both sides of the Border abound 
 with eyries ; but among a race of birds, which 
 of old were held in so high estimation both in 
 Britain and on the Continent, it was to be expec- 
 
 Mag. of Zool. and Dot. vol. ii. 
 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 117 
 
 ted that some more renowned sites would exist. 
 Thus we have Hambleton in Yorkshire, famed 
 for a breed used to fly at Wild-ducks ; in Wales, 
 the rock of Llandidno ; and in Scotland, Dum- 
 barton, the Bass, and Isle of Man, all ranked high 
 for the bold and generous dispositions of their 
 Hawks. The birds were preserved with the 
 greatest care, and penalties were attached to their 
 destruction. 
 
 It may be here remarked, that several gentlemen 
 now keep hawking establishments, and take the field 
 regularly, sometimes for the sport itself, and also 
 for the purpose of terrifying the game to sit^ by 
 causing the falcons to fly over them. We have 
 yet few records of the deeds done in this sport, 
 but in Ireland, John Sinclair, Esq. a friend of our 
 correspondent Mr Thompson, seems devoted to 
 it, and has endeavoured to reclaim not only the 
 noble, but has attempted Eagles and Buzzards, 
 and even the most ignoble of the race, the Har- 
 riers, and with a variety of success. This gentle- 
 man procures his Hawks from the more northern 
 eyries in Ireland, and uses them chiefly to fly at 
 Woodcocks, as making the best chase ; and one 
 peculiarity deserves to be mentioned, that the 
 Falcon stops, as it were, instinctively, so soon 
 as the prey arrives at cover.* 
 
 * One of Mr Sinclair's Falcons having killed a Landrail, 
 which it was about to eat on a house top, instantly gave 
 
118 PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 The nest of the Peregrine is generally placed 
 on the face of some precipitous cliff, resting on a 
 shelve of the rock, on a tuft of vegetation, or in a 
 horizontal cleft. It is generally inaccessible to 
 climbing without some assistance, though, in a few 
 instances, I have seen the shepherds take the eggs 
 or young without aid. The nest is composed of 
 a considerable bulk of sticks, coarse stems of 
 grasses or fern carried by the birds ; but in one 
 eyrie, which I have known for many years, placed 
 in a horizontal cleft, the eggs are laid on the bare 
 surface among the refuse of the roots of vegeta- 
 tion, a little scooping or working with the breast 
 rendering the spot slightly hollow. The female, 
 when sitting, is easily approached, though warning 
 is always given by the male of any stranger's 
 approach. At this time he appears high in the air, 
 flying rapidly round, and uttering his piercing 
 and shrill call of alarm. If the young are hatched, 
 the scene is different : both parents generally meet 
 the aggressor, and plainly tell that their boundaries 
 have been invaded. When the site of the nest is 
 approached, both fly rapidly across the face of 
 the cliff, passing and repassing the nest, eyeing 
 at one time the stranger, at another, the objects 
 of their care, and uttering meanwhile cries, 
 
 chase to another Rail that was sprung, and still retaining 
 its first victim, secured the second with its other foot, 
 and bore both off together. 
 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 119 
 
 which may now be likened to shrieks of anger or 
 despair. Their patience apparently exhausted, 
 a sailing flight is made to some neighbouring 
 pinnacle, where more plaintive cries are from 
 time to time uttered, or the male will, far out of 
 gun-shot above, survey the scene. The least 
 movement or noise of the intruding party, will 
 again bring both parents to the spot, with, if 
 possible, a more rapid passing flight and louder 
 cries. In such situations I have never found it 
 difficult to procure at least one bird, and some- 
 times both, and in either case have always, 
 in the following season, found the cliff again 
 tenanted, and the nest commonly placed on 
 the same spot. A figure of the egg is given 
 plate II. fig. 1. 
 
 The Peregrine is a bird of wide distribution, 
 though a constant native only of the wildest and 
 most mountainous districts ; thus, though it has 
 been found in America, it is of more rare occur- 
 rence than the Hawks, which delight in wooded 
 tracts, and is scarce, therefore, in the wooded parts 
 of the fur countries.* It is migratory in Loui- 
 siana, and seldom occurs in the middle and 
 southern States, while, in some parts of the United 
 States, Audubon thinks they may breed ; and toe 
 Falls of Niagara, mentioned as one station, 
 
 * Faun. Bor. Am. u. p. 24. 
 
120 PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 be quite in accordance with the habits of the bird.* 
 In the New World, it is upon the northern coast 
 where it is most abundant ; Melville Peninsula, 
 the shores of Hudson's Bay, and the Arctic Sea, 
 are among its most numerous resorts in summer.']' 
 Captain King, it has been said, met with it in the 
 Straits of Magellan, and the specimen of a hawk 
 from New Holland, in the Museum of the Linnaean 
 Society, is referred to this species. The latter, 
 however, is considerably smaller in size. It is 
 also mentioned, though with a doubt, as a South 
 African bird by Dr Smith, in his catalogue of the 
 " South African Museum/' If these localities are 
 correct, J we shall have the bird nearly universal 
 in distribution where situation is favourable ; and 
 we think it much more than probable that it 
 may also occur in the Alpine regions of India. 
 
 The variation of plumage which takes place in 
 the different ages of the birds of prey, has rendered 
 this species the subject of much confusion and of 
 most varied nomenclature, which has been much 
 increased by the provincial and sporting names 
 which have been applied to the different sexes, 
 
 * Audubon, Orn. Biog. ii. p. 88. 
 
 t Faun. Bor. Am. ii. 1. c. 
 
 t We say " if correct," because we have not examined 
 specimens from either locality, and cannot* therefore, 
 speak decidedly. The authority of Dr Horsfield and Mr 
 Vigors is good. 
 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 121 
 
 states of plumage, and age of the trained birds. The 
 language of falconry was introduced into that 
 of science, and the combination was difficult to 
 unravel. F. communis, hornotinus y and gibbosus, 
 are now ascertained to belong to some states of 
 this bird ; and in sporting terms, we have Falcon 
 for the female, and Tercel for the male. We are 
 not so sure, however, of the " Barbary Falcon," as 
 there are one or two African birds which come 
 near, and whose young states may be very similar ; 
 and, except that above noted, we have no modern 
 instance of the Peregrine being received from 
 Africa. The difference in the proportions, and 
 in the notching or emargination of the feathers, 
 is often very marked ; and it would be well that 
 a very rigid examination of every part of the 
 specimens which were considered identical, was 
 always made before they are recorded, for we are 
 convinced that many birds have not nearly the 
 extent of distribution which has been assigned to 
 them, and that the representing or analogous, 
 species have been taken for them. 
 
 The food of the Peregrine residing inland, is 
 principally game of all kinds ; on the coast, the 
 various sea-fowl, of which ducks and the curlews 
 are most esteemed. We have seen that the Ame- 
 rican birds have certain propensities for fish, but 
 few instances have been recorded of small ani- 
 mals being destroyed. The flight, when in the 
 
122 PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 act of seizing or rushing on its feathered prey, is 
 swift beyond description. Ordinarily, it is per- 
 formed by rapidly repeated strokes of the wings, 
 in which manner it either sweeps over the country 
 surveying for its quarry, or when the latter has 
 been raised, ascends above, following the course 
 until the moment favourable for descent has 
 arrived, when the pinions are folded close to 
 the body, the course directed by the tail, and a 
 diagonal rush upon the victim follows, which, if 
 light, is seized and borne off in a rising curve, or, 
 if of a heavier description, is felled to the ground.* 
 It is an idea with many that the large Falcons 
 strike their prey with the breast, but the violence 
 of the contact would be felt as severely by the one 
 as the other ; and the blow which would stun a 
 pigeon, or a full-grown wild-duck of equal weight, 
 would surely be fatal to both. The weaker or 
 lighter birds are always clutched up ; and on the 
 others torn wounds are inflicted, which could only 
 be done by the claws. The bill is not used. It 
 has been mentioned, that the Peregrine often strikes 
 several birds of a covey or flock before returning 
 to his first prey ; and Mr Thompson mentions 
 that one of Mr Sinclair's Hawks, which had taken 
 up her abode in a rookery, when flown at rooks, 
 always struck down several before commencing 
 
 * Colonel Thornton knew a Hawk cut a Snipe in two. 
 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 123 
 
 to prey on one. The same gentleman relates 
 another anecdote to the same point : " Mr 
 Sinclair, when exercising his dogs, towards the 
 end of July, preparatory to grouse shooting, saw 
 them point ; and when coming up he started a 
 male Peregrine Falcon off a Grouse just killed by 
 him, and very near the same place he came upon 
 the female bird also on a Grouse. Although my 
 friend lifted both the dead birds, the Hawks con- 
 tinued flying about, and on the remainder of the 
 flock being sprung by the dogs, either three or 
 four more Grouse were struck down by them, 
 and thus two or three brace of Grouse were 
 obtained.* Various attempts have been made 
 to ascertain the velocity of this Falcon's flight, 
 but accurate data can scarcely be procured, and 
 our results, in most instances, must be drawn by 
 deduction. It has been rated from fifty to one 
 hundred and fifty miles an hour ; at the greatest 
 velocity of its rushes we have little doubt that 
 it is beyond this speed, but in ordinary flight and 
 migration, it may have been perhaps overrated. 
 
 The following is a description of the adults of 
 both sexes, procured on the Moffat range of hills 
 during the breeding season, and of the young in 
 its first plumage from the same locality : 
 
 Male. Head, back of the neck, and broad 
 
 * Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vo*. 
 
124 PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 streak beneath the auriculars, greyish black, 
 shading into a deep bluish grey on the back 
 and shoulders, rump and tail coverts ; the centre 
 of each feather on the back darker, but on the 
 scapulars having the shaft only conspicuous, and a 
 slight irregular clouding towards the tip of the 
 feather ; on the rump arid tail coverts the grey is 
 paler, and the feathers are indistinctly formed 
 with greyish black ; the quills are greyish black, 
 with pale edges, slightly tinged with grey on the 
 outer webs, the three first are darkest ; on the 
 lower side they are obscurely spotted on the 
 inner web with reddish white ; the second is the 
 'ongest in the wing, and the first only is notched, 
 (see wood cut, p. 106 ;) they reach within half an 
 inch of the tip of the tail ; the tail is nearly square, 
 bluish white, with a tint of yellowish grey, pale 
 at the end, and narrowly bound with greyish 
 black ; the chin is white ; the throat and breast 
 are cream-yellow ; the shafts of the feather on the 
 latter dark, and shewing a very narrow streak ; 
 from the breast downwards the lower parts are of 
 a pearl-grey, tinted with rufous, the shafts of the 
 feathers appearing very marked, and having 
 those feathers on the lower part of the breast 
 with a deep transverse spot, which gradually 
 changes into bars, more indistinctly marked on 
 the thighs and lower tail coverts ; bill is bluish 
 black, yellowish white toward the base of the 
 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 125 
 
 ndible ; cere and legs saffron-yellow; iris deep 
 niber-brown ; length nearly sixteen inches that 
 of the wing from shoulder to tip of .second quill 
 twelve inches and a quarter. 
 
 Female With the distribution of the colours 
 similar, the upper parts generally of a deeper 
 tint, the clouded marking on the back and the 
 bars on the rump and tail more distinct and 
 better marked ; underneath, the lower part of 
 the breast, the belly, and thighs, have a more 
 rufous tinge, and less grey intermixed ; a longi 
 tudinal spotting runs higher up upon the breast, 
 and the transverse spotting and barring on the 
 other parts is broader, of a deeper hue, and more 
 boldly marked ; length about nineteen inches -, 
 from shoulder to tip of second quill fourteen 
 inches. 
 
 Both the birds now described were shot from 
 the nest. 
 
 Young of the first plumage, male Upper 
 
 parts very deep blackish brown tinted with grey, 
 the feathers tipped with rufous, and on the hind 
 head broadly edged with a pale tint of the same 
 colour; quills black, tipped with rufous; tail 
 brownish-black, greyer towards the base, tipped 
 and obscurely barred with reddish white ; chin 
 yellowish white, remaining under parts pale and 
 dull reddish orange, tinted with ochraceous, 
 darkest in the centre of the belly, and broadly 
 
126 PEREGRINE FALCON. 
 
 streaked with umber brown on the centre of each 
 feather ; legs lemon yellow, with a tint of green. 
 A variety in a state of change has the upper 
 parts of a tint intermediate between yellowish 
 brown and clove-brown. The tail, instead of 
 being barred, has an irregular spot on each web 
 of ochraceous, where the pale bands should bo, 
 and the longitudinal streaking of the lower parts 
 is wood-brown, instead of the deep ruddy umber- 
 brown seen generally in the young.* 
 
 Of the next species we regret that our know- 
 ledge is more imperfect, and that we must have 
 recourse to the works of others to glean the 
 information which has been recorded. 
 
 * The name of Lanner was applied to a bird clearly 
 resembling the young of the Peregrine, and from the 
 alliance of the species seems also occasionally to have 
 been given to the real young of this bird, and consequently 
 has made confusion by leading some to believe that the. 
 true Lanner was a British bird. The true Falco lanarius of 
 Linnaeus, however, is scarcely authentically ascertained ; 
 it seems to be a distinct but rare bird of southern Europe. 
 Mr Gould has given a figure from specimens furnished to 
 him by Mon. Temminck, and describes it as intermediate 
 in form between the Jer Falcon and Peregrine. See Birds 
 of Europe. 
 
"Irf 
 
127 
 
 THE HOBBY. 
 
 Falco subbuteo. RAY. 
 PLATE V. 
 
 Falco subbuteo, Ray, Linnceus, Latham, &c Faucon 
 Hobereau, Temm. The Hobby of Brit, authors. 
 
 The Hobby is also a finely formed falcon, and 
 possesses great power of the wings, which are 
 proportionally longer than in the Peregrine. 
 This bird is a summer visitant to England, but 
 only a rare one, and its most northern recorded 
 range is noted by Dr Heysham in his catalogue 
 of the Cumberland Animals, prefixed to Hutchin- 
 son's History of Cumberland. He says, " Whether 
 it migrates or not, I have seen it in the beginning 
 of November." A specimen is also mentioned 
 by Mr Selby as having been killed at Streatham 
 Castle, Durham.* In Scotland I am aware of no 
 instance of its being captured, and in Ireland it 
 seems equally rare, or rather somewhat doubtful 
 whether it has ever occurred at all.f It also 
 appears to be only migratory on the Continent, 
 
 * Brit. Ornith. i. p. 43, 2d edit. 
 
 t See Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. 
 
1*28 HOBBY. 
 
 retiring after incubation to spend the winter in 
 some warmer country, Asia most probably, for 
 specimens have been received from continental 
 India perfectly identical. In this country it 
 arrives in April, leaving again in October. It 
 occurs chiefly in the richer and more enclosed 
 districts, being evidently a bird delighting in 
 woods, where it can sally forth to prey in an 
 open tract. It breeds on tree$, sometimes among 
 Hie forsaken nests of the crow or magpie ; and 
 the eggs are described as of a bluish-white with 
 olive-green or yellowish blotches.* This is a 
 colouring of the eggs at variance with all those 
 of all our other British Falcons, and is more akin 
 to what we see in Astur and Circus* the Gos- 
 hawks and Harriers. Mr Yarrell, however, says 
 they are similar in form and colour to those of 
 the other Falcons. 1 )' The most favourite pursuit 
 of this Hawk seems to be the lark ; both Montague 
 and Mr Selby mention having witnessed the 
 chase, and of its very marked predilection for 
 this prey. It is extremely active, and was 
 formerly trained to hawk," and Quails and Larks 
 were the principal game, though Partridges were 
 sometimes attempted. It was not, however, held 
 in great respect for this sport 
 
 * Temm. Man. i. p. 27. 
 t Brit. Birds, p. 42. 
 

 ..CALIF< 
 
THE MERLIN. 
 
 Falco eesalon WILLOUGHBY. 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 Falco aesalon, Willoughby, Ray, fyc Merlin of most Brit. 
 Authors. Stone Falcon of Latham. Montague, App. 
 to Supp. Orn. Diet, the male. 
 
 THIS beautiful little Falcon has considerable 
 resemblance to the Peregrine, except in stature. 
 but though less, its proportions are all most symme- 
 trical, and the colours of the plumage, though 
 somewhat similarly distributed, are more brilliant 
 and better marked ; upon the whole, it may be 
 considered as one of our handsomest Raptorial 
 birds. In the change of plumage it is also allied, 
 and a variety of synonims have in consequence 
 been applied. Formerly it was trained to the 
 chase, and used to hawk for quails, snipes, and 
 larks, and the flight in pursuit of the two latte** 
 generally afforded the best sport in the estimation 
 of the falconer. In pursuit of prey, the Merlin 
 does not often mount above it and rush down, as 
 we have generally seen the Peregrine, but at on<^ 
 gives chase, closely following the victim througi) 
 i 
 
132 MERLIN. 
 
 pinnacle, and on the approach of an intruder, 
 gives notice by his very shrill cries and rapid 
 flight around ; he is wary, and unless when the 
 young are hatched, does not come within range. 
 I have never seen the nest in any otner situation 
 than that above described ; never on trees, as 
 mentioned by some writers, Temminck, &c. and 
 who acknowledge their information to be derived 
 from others. It is, however, probable, that in a 
 country much wooded, a change of situation may 
 be chosen. I have frequently found from one to 
 three eyries in a forenoon's walk over a country 
 which they frequented. They keep healthy in 
 confinement with ordinary care to their food and 
 cleanliness ; become tame, but not familiar ; and 
 form a beautiful addition to a collection. 
 
 The adult plumage of the male is very rich. 
 The head, back, shoulders, secondaries, rump, 
 and base of the tail, are a fine blackish grey, very 
 deep on the crown, and having there, and on the 
 back or rump, the feathers marked along their 
 shafts with a streak of black ; the back of the 
 neck is reddish orange, having the centres of the 
 feathers greyish black ; the auricular feathers are 
 yellowish white, tinted with rufous,, marked with 
 greyish black along the shafts, and at their pos- 
 terior tips are nearly of that colour entirely ; a 
 pale streak passes over each eye, stretches over the 
 auriculars, and sometimes joins the rufous part on 
 
MERLIN. 133 
 
 the back of the neck ; the centre of the feathers 
 are here also dark ; the quills are black, first with 
 a pale edge, the inside webs marked thickly with 
 irregular pale bars ; third quill largest, first and 
 second much notched, the tail has the tip white, 
 then a broad black band which runs through 
 the white along the shafts ; above this, in the 
 specimen before us, there are two indistinct bars 
 of black upon the uniform grey of the base of 
 the tail ; the last of these is hardly perceptible, 
 and the first is most indistinct on the centre 
 feathers ; the chin and throat are nearly white, 
 delicately marked along the shafts of the feathers ; 
 the remaining under parts have a general colour- 
 ing of reddish orange, palest on the centre of the 
 belly, and on the breast approaching to ochraceous ; 
 the centre of each feather is marked longitudinally 
 with deep umber brown along the shafts, which on 
 the sides and flanks assumes a triangular form ; 
 the under tail coverts are ochraceous, tinted with 
 grey, and having the shafts black ; bill bluish 
 black, yellowish white at the base of the maxilla ; 
 legs gamboge yellow. Length about eleven inches ; 
 that of wing, from shoulder to third quill, eight 
 inches. 
 
 A male in the plumage of the first year has the 
 head of a clear rufous, broadly streaked with 
 blackish grey ; the upper parts are brown, tinged 
 with grey ; each feather dark along the shaft, and 
 
134 MERLIN". 
 
 rufous on the edges ; the quills are deep clove 
 brown, tipped with whitish, and barred on the 
 inner webs with pale reddish orange ; the secon- 
 daries are tipped with white, and the greater 
 coverts have pale tips and irregular bars of pale 
 rufous interruptedly crossing them ; the tail is pale 
 at the tip, and afterwards alternately barred with 
 clove-brown and rufous, the latter tint becoming 
 ochraceous towards the base ; the chin is white, 
 and the remaining lower parts pale ochraceous 
 yellow, broadly marked along the shafts of each 
 feather with umber brown, the thighs and under 
 tail coverts only having the streaking linear. 
 Length about ten inches "and three quarters. 
 
 The female has the upper parts clove brown, 
 tinted with grey, particularly on the rump, the 
 general colour darkest on the head, the shaft and 
 centre of each feather darkest, and each edged 
 with rufous, which is the predominant colour on 
 the back of the neck ; the quills have the reddish 
 marking we see in the young males on the inner 
 webs, and the tail pale at the tip, is distinctly 
 barred with umber brown and pale rufous, which 
 towards the base becomes ochraceous ; the chin 
 is white ; the remaining under parts ochraceous 
 white, tinted with rufous on the breast, and 
 thickly marked with umber brown, disposed in 
 broad longitudinal streaks, the shaft of the feathers 
 shewing darkly in each. Length about thirteen 
 
MERLIN. 135 
 
 and a quarter inches. The plumage of the first 
 year in this sex does not vary much ; a greater 
 share of rufous on the upper parts, and the margins 
 of the feathers more broadly marked, are the most 
 prominent distinctions. 
 
 The geographical range of the Merlin has gene 
 rally been considered to extend to North America, 
 but we have never received or seen a specimen 
 of the true bird from that country. The speci- 
 mens which have been sent to us as such we con- 
 sider to be the adult state of the Falco columbanus^ 
 and they also agree with the bird figured anc 
 described by Mr Audubon under the title of " Le 
 petit Caporal." Now we have no description of 
 the adult male F. columbarium under- that name. 
 Mr Audubon's account of the male has all the 
 indications of having been taken from an imma- 
 ture bird ; and we think it more than probable 
 that this may have been confounded for the Mer- 
 lin, and from hence its extended range has been 
 supposed, while, in reality, the European bird 
 does not exist at all in the New World. 
 
 The figure in the Northern Zoology may have 
 been taken from a female F. columbarius. 
 
136 
 
 THE ORANGE LEGGED FALCON. 
 
 Falco rufipes BECHSTEIN. 
 
 PLATE VII. 
 
 Falco vespertinus, Linn, Falco rufipes, JBechst. and 
 Modern Ornith. Faucon a pieds, rouge ou Hober, 
 
 Tenon. Man Orange legged Hobby, Lath. Seity, 
 
 Yarrell Ingrian falcon, Lath. 
 
 THE strictness with which the indigenous 
 Fauna of our islands has been lately examined, 
 has led to the discovery of straggling specimens 
 of this Falcon, finding their way to the British 
 shores. Farther than having seen specimens of 
 the species, we know nothing, and can merely 
 now give a summary of what has been lately 
 ascertained and written of its habits and occur- 
 rence. Mr Yarrell appears to have been the 
 first who called the attention of our ornithologists 
 to its occasional appearance in England, and 
 records it in the fourth volume of Louden's 
 Magazine of Natural History. " Three examples 
 of this small falcon were observed together at 
 Horning in Norfolk, in the month of May, 1830, 
 and fortunately all three were obtained. On 
 examination, they proved to be an adult male 
 

 
 
 
ORANGE LEGGED FALCON. 137 
 
 and female, and a young male in immature 
 plumage. A fourth specimen, a female, was also 
 shot in Holkham park." A notice has been 
 since read to the Linnaean Society, by Mr 
 Foljambe,* of the capture of a male in Yorkshire, 
 "and an immature specimen was shot in the 
 county of Wicklow, in the summer of 1832, and 
 forms part of the collection of T. W. Warren, 
 Esq. of Dublin ;"f and these are all, we believe, 
 that have hitherto been recorded. J On those 
 parts of the European continent, that lie adjacent 
 to Britain, the Red-legged Falcon is also rare. 
 It appears to be a bird delighting in a wild 
 mountainous but wooded region ; France and 
 Holland are therefore nearly as unsuited to its 
 liking as Britain. In the first, it is accounted rare, 
 and it has not been found at all in the latter ; in the 
 Tyrol and Switzerland it begins to appear, ranges 
 through Poland and Austria, and is common in 
 Russia ; of its distribution, farther, we have no 
 record. Though agreeing with the Falcons in 
 general form, it must be reckoned as diverging 
 towards the aberrant species ; there are some 
 modifications in the form of the wings, and reti- 
 culation of the tarsi, and its food seems to be 
 
 xMagazine of Zool. &c. iv. p. 116. 
 t See Proceedings of Zool. Society, 1835. 
 t Gould's Birds of Europe. Mr Yarrell mentions one 
 or two additional instances in his Brit. Birds. 
 
138 ORANGE LEGGED FALCON. 
 
 almost entirely insectivorous. Reptiles may also 
 form a part, for we have generally seen the two 
 kinds of sustenance preyed on, while small birds 
 or animals were less hunted. 
 
 Mr Gould's figure of an adult male, from a speci- 
 men in the collection of Mr Yarrell, is represented 
 of a uniform blackish grey, without streak or spot ; 
 the thighs and vent reddish brown, or chestnut ; 
 the legs and feet of a clear reddish orange, and 
 this also agrees with most of our descriptions. 
 The adult female, according to specimens exa- 
 mined by the same author, has the head and 
 nape of a dark reddish brown, without streaks, 
 changing, on the back and wing coverts, to bluish 
 black, edged with paler blue ; underneath the 
 plumage is nearly white, tinted with chestnut on 
 the belly, flanks and tail coverts, and on the 
 breast and sides, dashed along the quills, with a 
 narrow line of brown ; the insides of the wings 
 somewhat resemble those of the Merlin of the 
 first year, and the feathers of the tail are crossed 
 on their inner webs, with from six to eight bars 
 of blackish brown on a pale ground. Young 
 birds somewhat resemble the female, but we still 
 want a detailed description of the different 
 changes of plumage. We have not seen correct 
 dimensions given of this bird : it is a longer 
 shaped bird, but is not much larger than the 
 Merlin. 
 
KK STF El 
 
THE KESTREL. 
 
 Fako tinnunculus LINNAEUS. 
 PLATE VIII. 
 
 Falco tinnunculus of authors Kestrel of British orni- 
 thologists. Provincially Windhover, Stonegal. 
 
 THE Kestrel is by far the most abundant of 
 our Falcons, we may add of all the British 
 Raptores ; it is also the most universally dis 
 tributed, and inhabits the most varied localities. 
 Ruined buildings are a favourite resting place, 
 and the spires or towers of churches,* where it 
 roosts and incubates even in the more populous 
 towns, free from alarm at the noise or bustle 
 beneath. Well wooded lands, in the midst of 
 cultivation, and extensive forests, are also its 
 breeding places, where the old nest of a carrion 
 crow or magpie, is at once adopted as its own. 
 
 * The only place of this kind, in the vicinity of 
 Belfast, that I know to be selected for the purpose of 
 nidification, is the tower of Ballyleston Church, which, 
 of the many edifices of this description in our populous 
 neighbourhood, is the only one which contains a set of 
 
 musical bells W. Thompson, in Mag. of Zool. and 
 
 Bot. vol. ii. 
 
140 KESTREL. 
 
 We again find it equally abundant in the wilder 
 parts and more mountainous districts Df England 
 and Scotland, delighting in those deep ravines or 
 gullies, clothed with natural brush and wood, 
 and having parts varied by some precipitous 
 rock, formed into shelves, whereon grow the 
 wild grasses, heath, or blaeberry,* or a drapery 
 of ivy or honeysuckle ; under the overhanging 
 brow of some of these a hole is scraped, and 
 the eggs are laid without any protection from 
 the rock or ground. This we conceive to be the 
 most favourite site, almost always selected where 
 many such retreats occur in the country; and we 
 know several glens, where, within a quarter of a 
 mile, there may, in April or May be found from 
 ten to twelve eyries, and in one situation, eight 
 or nine can be perceived at once. Mr Thompson 
 writes us, that in Ireland it is equally com- 
 mon, frequenting the inland and marine cliffs. 
 " Throughout the whole range of noble basaltic 
 precipices, in the north-east of Ireland I have 
 remarked its presence " 
 
 In form, the Kestrel is interesting, by some 
 being thought sufficiently varied to form a sub- 
 genus. It is aberrant in many parts of struc- 
 ture and habits, and the similitude which runs 
 through a small group of five or six species, 
 would seem to warrant its sectional division; 
 * Vaccinium myrtillus. 
 
KESTREL. 141 
 
 we, however, at present prefer retaining it as a 
 part of Faico, and a comparison between what 
 are called the Kestrels, (F tinnunculus, tin- 
 nunculoideS) rupicola, &c.) the Merlin, and the 
 little American F. sparverius, will, we believe, 
 lead to a similar conclusion. The bill is perfectly 
 typical, and the wings, though proportionably 
 shorter, are, in the comparative length of the 
 quills, more so than in the Merlin ; the second 
 quill is the longest, in the Merlin it is the third ; 
 but it is in the feet and tarsi we find the greatest 
 variation. The legs are clothed with small rough 
 scales, three large plates only covering the joint 
 of the tarsus with the toes ; the feet are altogether 
 shorter proportionally, particularly the outer 
 toes, a form which we observe in the species of 
 Raptores which feed more exclusively on reptiles 
 or insects ; and this we have borne out by the 
 habits of the birds we are describing. The 
 Kestrels feed much less on birds than any of our 
 small European Falcons. The chief food of the 
 common bird is the small mammalia comprised 
 in the genera, mus, sorex and arvicola, and for 
 this purpose, we see a peculiar manner of 
 hunting, and of motionless suspended flight, 
 which has gained for it the common, but expres- 
 sive appellation, of " Windhover ;" they hang, 
 as it were, in the air, balancing themselves by 
 the expanded tail, and an occasional rapid 
 
142 REST II EL. 
 
 quivering of the wings, and survey the thick- 
 bushy or grassy cover beneath, descending gra- 
 dually as their prey is seen, and at last poun- 
 cing on it. Small birds may be occasionally 
 taken in the same mannner, when squatted 
 in cover,* but we never recollect of seeing the 
 Kestrel openly pursue or give chase to any pney 
 of this description. During the breeding season, 
 in muirland localities, the sustenance is almost 
 completely changed ; the smalt common lizard 
 (Lacerla agilis) forms the greater part of it, and 
 being extremely abundant, serves the parents, 
 and is also carried to the nests. The larger 
 beetles are also fed on, and we have most fre- 
 quently observed in their stomachs the remains 
 of the larger Carabi, and Geotrupes, a fact cor- 
 roborated by the interesting anecdote recorded 
 by Mr Selby, and which shews still more strongly 
 the. alliance to some of the Elani, and more 
 decidedly insectivorous species. " In summer, 
 the cock-chafer supplies to this species an 
 objVct of pursuit and food, and the following 
 curious account is given from an eye-witness 
 of the fact: * I had,' says he, < the pleasure 
 this summer, in seeing the Kestrel engaged 
 in an occupation entirely new to me, hawk- 
 ing after cock-chafers late - in the evening. 
 
 * Mr Selby mentions having taken a Kestrel in a trap 
 baited with a bird. Vol. i. p. 68. 
 
 
KESTREL. 143 
 
 I watched him through a glass, and saw him 
 dart through a swarm of insects, seize one of 
 them in each claw, and eat them while flying. 
 He returned to the charge again and again 
 I ascertained it beyond a doubt, as I afterwards 
 shot him.' " We may add also, that there is, in 
 the habits of these small Falcons, a very great 
 analogy to the manners of the Shrikes. 
 
 In works on falconry, the Kestrel was said to 
 be " easily reclaimed," and was trained to fly at 
 small birds, snipes, and quails. Mr Sinclaire of 
 Belfast, however, does not seem to hold them in 
 very high estimation for this purpose ; he has 
 trained them so far as, when allowed their liberty, 
 they will attend*and soar above him like the Pere- 
 grine, and fly at small birds let off from the hand.* 
 In confinement, it is by far the most familiar 
 Falcon we have ever tamed, by a little attention 
 and kindness losing all shyness, coming at once 
 when called on, perching on the hand and shoul- 
 der, and uttering its expressive cry of fondness, 
 which can be so easily distinguished in its eyries, 
 when the parents are returning with food to the 
 young, or when the male approaches his partner 
 upon the nest. A remarkable anecdote is men- 
 tioned by Mr Thompson of a Kestrel belonging 
 to his friend Mr Sinclaire. One of these birds, 
 
 * Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. 
 
144 KESTREL. 
 
 which was kept by that gentleman in the town of 
 Belfast, had its freedom, and flew every evening 
 to roost in an extensive plantation in the country, 
 about a mile distant, in flying to and from which 
 it was at first recognized by the sound of the bells 
 attached to its legs. This bird returned regularly 
 to its town domicile at an early hour in the 
 morning.* We should not have considered this 
 bird the favourite with the ancient falconer, 
 which it appears to have been boldness of 
 temper, and striking game in open chase, being 
 contrary to its habits in an unreclaimed state. 
 
 In this species there is not so marked a difference 
 in the size of the sexes as in some of the birds we 
 have been describing. The male varies in length 
 from fourteen to fifteen inches, the female from 
 about fourteen and a half to fifteen and a half inches. 
 In the adult male, the forehead is yellowish, shading 
 into bluish grey on the crown, and which is con- 
 tinued upon the back and sides of the neck and 
 on the cheeks ; on the latter the tint is darker, 
 and from the corners of the gape assumes the 
 shape of the dark streak which is so conspicu- 
 ous in most of the real falcons. On the head and 
 back of neck each feather is narrowly streaked 
 on the centre with blackish grey, and a purplish 
 tint pervades the whole. The back, greater and 
 
 * Mag. of Zool. and Dot. ii. p. 57. 
 
KESTREL. 145 
 
 lesser coverts, and shoulders, are hyacinth red, with 
 a tint of pink or pale reddish purple, which perhaps 
 will be more generally understood by " vinace- 
 ous," each feather having a triangular mark of 
 brownish black at the tip. The quills and secon- 
 daries are brownish black, the inner webs with dull 
 white oval spots ; tail ana upper coverts bluish- 
 grey, the former tipped with white, which is 
 followed by a broad black bar incompleted on 
 the outer web of the exterior feathers ; shafts of the 
 centre feathers also black ; the under parts are 
 pale buff-orange, more rufous on the belly and 
 thighs ; feathers on the throat and neck of a paler 
 tint and spotless, on the breast and belly with 
 a dark streak in the centre, on the flanks antf 
 lower part of the belly with a triangular spot at 
 the tip, and with a second oval spot on the centre 
 of the feathers ; under parts of the wings pure 
 white, with a few oval dark spots at the tips of 
 the feathers. 
 
 The female differs in having the whole upper 
 parts hyacinth red, but of a paler and more 
 yellow tint ; the head and back of the neck 
 broadly streaked, and each feather of the back, 
 shoulders, and coverts, barred and broadly tipped 
 with blackish-brown ; the tail of the same tint, 
 but slightly paler than the upper parts, is nar- 
 rowly barred for its whole length, and is furnished 
 with the broad terminal band and the white tip ; 
 K 
 
146 KESTREL. 
 
 the breast and lower parts are more ochraceous 
 than in the male, and the spotting and streaking 
 of the same form, is broader, and thus appears 
 closer; the underparts of the wings are also 
 tinted with ochraceous. 
 
 In the young males, the head and tail have a 
 slight greyish tinge, and the bars are more 
 indistinct or clouded on the latter ; the under 
 parts of the wings are also of a purer white than 
 those parts in the females. 
 
 In all our British Falcons, the iris is brown, 
 and undergoes no change in the adult birds. 
 
 Our next division, or the sub-typical, is seen 
 
 in the sub-family, 
 
147 
 
 ACCIPITRIN^E HAWKS. 
 
 THE sub-typical, or accipitrine section, known 
 popularly as " Hawks," and of which the Gos 
 and Sparrow-hawks are examples, have the form 
 more slender, the bill with the tooth assuming 
 the form of a projecting lobe or festoon ; the 
 wings more rounded and shorter, and when 
 assisted by the ample tail are better adapted for a 
 gliding or flitting progress, than for the rushing 
 flight of the Falcons ; the feet and legs are longer, 
 and less muscular. The habits of the birds con- 
 stituting this group are more decidedly sylvan, 
 wooded countries and extensive forests being 
 their principal haunts. Their breeding places 
 are selected on trees, generally of a large size, 
 and are not often placed on bare and precipitous 
 rocks. 
 
 The eggs in this group are generally of a white 
 or pale ground colour, the markings very decided 
 blotches of deep or rich brown. See pi. II. fig. 3, 
 
148 HAWKS. 
 
 for a representation of the egg of the Sparrow 
 Hawk. 
 
 In Britain, and, indeed, in Europe, the varieties 
 of this form are very limited, Accipiter and Astur 
 being hitherto the only genera admitted. Those 
 seem to be most numerously distributed in Ame- 
 rica, Africa, and New Holland ; Asia and Europe 
 possessing the least number of species, while the 
 distribution of our British birds is not very widely 
 extended. The Gos-hawk is known only as 
 European ; the species of America, though nearly 
 allied, being distinct, while we have no authenti- 
 cated inptance of our own bird occurring there. 
 The Sparrow-nawk is European,, and we have the 
 authority of Temminck for specimens occurring 
 in Japan, and we believe that it also occurs in 
 alpine India. 
 
 The Gos and Sparrow-hawks were formerly 
 united together under the generic title of either 
 Astur or Accipiter, as it pleased their describers. 
 They have been separated by modern systema- 
 tists, and the distinctive characters rest chiefly 
 on a difference of size, and in the tarsi of Acci- 
 piter being very slender, with the scales smooth, 
 and united at the joinings. The distribution of 
 the colours of the plumage, and the habits of 
 both genera, however, agree remarkably, and we 
 
HATVKS. 149 
 
 are not quite sure that they will ultimately bear 
 separation. We shall place Accipiter first, as 
 representing the section. 
 
 Sparrow-Hawk. 
 
 ACCIPITER, generic character. Bill curved 
 from the base, compressed ; mandible with a 
 distinct obtuse lobe or festoon ; nostrils 
 oval ; wings short, rounded, fourth and fifth 
 leathers longest ; first, with the inner web 
 notched ; next four, with both webs emargi- 
 nated ; tarsi and feet slender, lengthened, 
 scutelated in front with thin and smooth 
 scales, closely united to each other ; toes, 
 with the middle longer than the outer by 
 one joint, than the inner by two ; hallux and 
 inner toes equal ; claws rather slender, but 
 sharp and hooked ; those of the hind and 
 inner toes longest and strong, 
 
 Note. Cosmopolite, habits sylvan, strike their 
 prey on the ground, occasionally on the wing, 
 
150 
 
 HAWKS. 
 
 breed chiefly on trees, were trained occa- 
 sionally for the chase. 
 
SPARROW HAWK 
 Mai e& Fern ale 
 
THE SPARROW-HAWK. 
 
 Accipiter fringillarius. WILLOUGHBT. 
 PLATE IX. 
 
 Accipiter fringillarius, Wiltoughby and Ray Falco nisus, 
 Linnceus. Sparrow Hawk of Brit, authors. 
 
 THE Sparrow-hawk, next to the Kestre) is the 
 most abundant of the British birds of prey, 
 inhabiting all the woodland and more cultivated 
 parts of our islands ; while it is also, though 
 more sparingly, met with in the wilder districts, 
 and extends its range to the Hebrides, in which 
 it varies its usual habits, and breeds on the rocky 
 precipices on the coast. Common in the enclosed 
 and wooded parts of Ireland, and known to 
 breed on trees only.* Woods of considerable 
 extent are its most favourite retreats, where it 
 can make excursions, and return either to the 
 nest or its roosting place. Its form allows it to 
 glide with rapidity among the trunks of the trees, 
 and in the thicket, and the ample tail may be 
 seen constantly employed in guiding its direc- 
 
 W. Thomp. Mag. of Zool. and Dot. ii. p. 171. 
 
152 SPARROW-HAWK. 
 
 tibn. In the open country the progress is a flitting 
 or gliding flight, skimming at a short distance 
 from the ground, along the back of hedges or the 
 skirts of some cover ; any obstruction on the 
 way, or fence, is passed as it were by a bound, 
 calculated with exactness, the action performed 
 with apparently no exertion, and the former 
 level course on the other side is again pursued ; 
 the prey is seized in the same rapid and easy 
 manner, and the stoop to the ground is made, 
 and the object seized almost without the spectator 
 being able to distinguish it, During the course, 
 some stone, stake, or eminence is often selected 
 for a temporary rest ; the station is taken up witn 
 the utmost lightness, the wings closed with a pecu- 
 liar quiver of the tail, and the attitude assumed 
 very nearly perpendicular, when it often remains 
 a few minutes motionless ; the flight is again 
 resumed with as little preparatory movement as 
 it was suspended. The prey of the male Sparrow- 
 hawk is smaller birds, his weight not permitting 
 him to carry off a heavy quarry ; but the female is 
 a very powerful bird, and we have here (and in the 
 group generally) a very marked example of dis- 
 parity between the size and weight of the sexes. 
 The female can easily kill a partridge or pigeon, 
 and we have seen her carry the latter for the 
 distance of one hundred and fifty yards ; Mr 
 Selby mentions a lapwing being among the 
 
SPARROW-HAWK. 153 
 
 provender for the young, We know the locality 
 of the nest, and this prey, which must have been 
 brought from a considerable distance, will tell 
 strongly in favour of her strength. The breeding 
 site is always, except in peculiar districts, chosen 
 in a wood ; it is placed about middle height in 
 the trees, and is rather a loose and careless fabric, 
 composed of sticks and twigs built on a straggling 
 base. The eggs are from three to five, bluish- 
 white, with large brown blotches. Previous to, 
 and when the nest is building, the birds may be 
 seen in the vicinity soaring at a moderate height 
 in circles, diving and sporting in the air. When 
 incubation commences, the female is shy ; but as 
 time runs, she becomes wedded to her task, and 
 will allow a near approach. The male does not 
 watch, and an intruder does not call forth those 
 vehement screams and dashes of despair or anger 
 which we see in the true Falcons. Here, the 
 disposition is more phlegmatic, and it is only 
 when the young can exert their voice, that any 
 approach to the nest is marked, and even then 
 great caution is displayed. In rocky situations 
 the nest is placed on some ledge or shelve, or in 
 a skreen of ivy ; it is built in the same manner, 
 and is tenanted by birds of like dispositions. Mr 
 Thompson, however, states that an ornithological 
 
154 SPARROW-HAWK. 
 
 friend of his, " on climbing a tree to one of their 
 nests, and when within a very few yards of it, 
 was attacked by the female bird, and his cap, at 
 one stroke, sent to the ground." 
 
 The male has the upper plumage of an uniform 
 pale blackish grey ; tip of the tail and nuchal 
 collar white ; quills clove brown, darkest at the 
 tips, with clouded bars on their inner webs. 
 Tail with a dark bar after the white tip, shading 
 upwards, and three bars afterwards indistinct 
 above, decidedly marked beneath. Auriculars, 
 buff orange, darker along the shafts. Throat and 
 chin pale ochraceous, with dark shafts ; breast, 
 belly, vent, and thighs, ochraceous ; shafts dark, 
 and thickly marked with reddish buff orange ; 
 in the centre of the belly tinted with brown ; 
 under tail coverts white. Length about twelve 
 inches ; from shoulders to tip of fifth quill, eight 
 and a quarter. 
 
 The female, with the upper parts clove 
 brown, darkest on the crown, and sometimes 
 tinted with rufous ; on the tips of the auriculars, 
 above the eyes, and on the hind head, the tips of 
 the feathers only are dark, and the light bases 
 appearing produce a pale line above the eyes, 
 and a variegation with white on the hind head ; 
 the quills and tail are barred with narrow darker 
 bands, conspicuous on the under surface of both. 
 The under parts are of a delicate yellowish 
 
SPARROW-HAWK. 155 
 
 white ; on the throat and neck streaked with 
 clove brown, sometimes tinted with rufous, and 
 on the other parts, except the lower tail coverts, 
 barred with the same colour, which also runs to 
 a point on the apical bands, and sometimes along 
 the shafts ; at times, these bars are much darker 
 than at others, and shew beautifully and dis- 
 tinctly on the pure white breast ; feet and legs 
 gamboge yellow, irides rich safron yellow. Length 
 from fourteen to fifteen inches ; one shot thi* 
 morning (in Nov. 1 836) fourteen inches three quar- 
 ters ; expanse of wings, twenty-four or twenty-five 
 inches. In a young female before us, the upper 
 parts are nearly yellowish brown, tinted with 
 grey, and have the edge of each feather ochra- 
 ceous ; on the head and back of the neck darker, 
 and edged with rufous. The lower parts yellow- 
 ish white ; on the breast, a yellowish brown streak 
 along the shaft of the feather, which, on the lower 
 part of the breast, or on the belly, stretched out 
 at the base to a bar, and produced an appearance 
 at once both barred and streaked. On the thighs 
 and vent, the distribution is in bars of a brownish 
 tint. In the young Goshawk, the breast marking 
 is all longitudinal bars, here it assumes somewhat 
 that of the adult bird ; in both the colouring 
 of the markings in the young is brown, the adults 
 a rich black. 
 
156 SPARROW-HAWK. 
 
 Gos-IIawk. 
 
 ASTUR, generic characters. Bill compressed, 
 edge of the mandible with an obsolete 
 lobe ; nostrils oval ; wings short, fourth quill 
 longest, the first five notched about their 
 centre ; tail very ample, rather lengthened ; 
 tarsi proportionably shorter than in Accipiter, 
 of middle strength, the scaling in front 
 more strongly marked ; middle toe long, the 
 outer toes and the hallux nearly equal ; claw 
 of the hind and inside toes strong and 
 nearly equal. 
 
 ._ European, habits chiefly sylvan, some- 
 times strike the prey on the wing, breed on 
 trees, occasionally trained 10 tne cnase. 
 
157 
 
 THE GOSHAWK. 
 
 Astur palumbarius. BECHSTEIN. 
 PLATE X. 
 
 Falco palumbarius of authors. Astur JBriss L'Autour of 
 
 the Frznch. Goshawk of British ornithologists. 
 
 A detailed account of the habits of the Gos- 
 hawk, written from observation, is yet a deside- 
 ratum in the history of British birds. None of 
 our modern writers have seen the bird in its 
 native haunts, and there is little more detail in 
 the works of the more ancient naturalists, when 
 it was supposed to be more abundant. The 
 districts of the Dee and of the Spey are always 
 mentioned as the parts where this bird is most 
 abundantly found, but it is undoubtedly rare 
 even in these wild wooded regions. Lowe again 
 mentions it as occurring in the Orkneys. In 
 England it is still more uncommon, and it seems 
 curious, that When not unfrequently met with in 
 France, it should pass over, as it were, the south 
 of Britain, and appear again at the extreme north. 
 
158 GOSHAWK. 
 
 We never saw the bird upon the wing, and 
 have therefore to regret our inability to add any 
 thing important to its history. A young male, 
 shot we believe near Dalkeith, is the only Scotch 
 specimen we ever saw in a fresh state. This was 
 brought to the late Mr Wilson, janitor to the 
 Edinburgh University, and was probably sold at 
 the dispersion of his collection. In 1820 we saw 
 two newly killed females brought to a bird pre- 
 server in Paris. One of them was purchased, 
 and serves for our present description ; both had 
 been trapped, and at that period they were not 
 very uncommon in the collections of the dealers. 
 There seems to be no well authenticated instance 
 of this bird having occurred in Ireland. 
 
 From all that we can gather, the Goshawk is a 
 sylvan species, living and hunting much like the 
 Sparrowhawk. The nest is described as built on 
 trees, placed near the trunk, and composed of 
 sticks loosely put together. It lays from two to 
 four eggs, according to the second edition of 
 Temminck, blueish white, marked with streaks 
 and spots of brown ; but in the supplement, 
 published in 1835, greenish white, without mark- 
 ings. In distribution, we consider this species 
 as confined to Europe. We have never met with 
 an extra European species, and those which we 
 have examined from America, under the title of 
 Goshawk, were undoubtedly distinct, and the 
 
GOSHAWK. 159 
 
 F. atricapillus of Wilson. One of Mr Audubon's 
 figures approaches closer to this bird than any 
 American specimen we have seen, and we con- 
 sider it as by no means unlikely to be discovered 
 in the New World, and also in temperate India.* 
 
 In form, the female Goshawk is extremely 
 powerful ; the feet and legs are comparatively 
 stronger and more muscular than in the Spar- 
 rowhawk, and it can with ease carry off the larger 
 game. In our works on Falconry it stands very 
 high, both on account of its strength, boldness, 
 and capability of early training ; but in modern 
 days, whether from its scarcity, or less sporting- 
 like appearance, it is seldom asked for, or trainee! 
 by those gentlemen who are endeavouring to 
 re-introduce the sport. 
 
 The colours of the plumage of the adult Gos- 
 hawk is hair brown, of different shades, generally 
 darker on the crowja, and with the base of the 
 feathers on the back of the neck having so much 
 white, as to be seen in aknost any position, and 
 to render this part of a spotted appearance ; the 
 quills are darker towards the tips, and are barred 
 on the inner webs with a still deeper shade ; the 
 tail is barred with liver brown, and is tipped with 
 white; the terminal band is broadest, the others 
 decreasing gradually in their intensity of shade 
 
 * Pennant mentions having seen Indian drawings cf 
 this species. Br. Zool. vol. i. 
 
160 GOSHAWK. 
 
 upwards ; the base of the inner webs is nearly 
 white, clouded with hair brown ; a streak over 
 the eye, cheeks, and lower parts, white ; on the 
 eye streak, cheeks, throat, and sides of the neck, 
 streaked along the centre of the feathers with 
 clove brown ; on the throat, belly, and flanks, 
 broadly barred \vith the same colour, the shafts 
 of each feather being of the same tint ; the plumes 
 of the vent and thighs have the barrs narrower 
 and of a paler tint ; the under tail coverts are pure 
 white ; the tarsi and toes are yellow ; the claws 
 black, sharp, and polished. 
 
 The young of the year have the markings of 
 the lower surface of the body disposed longitudi- 
 nally instead of across. A young female, now 
 before us, has the back, wings, and tail, hair 
 brown, but of a browner or ruddier tint than in 
 the adult ; the feathers tipped with yellowisn 
 white, and with the base pale, clouded with the 
 general brown colour ; the intervals between the 
 bars of the tail are paler and more clouded, and a 
 pale line generally separates the dark bar from 
 the lighter space between ; the head and back of 
 the neck is buff orange, having the centre of each 
 feather broadly marked with umber brown ; the 
 under parts are rich cream yellow, palest on the 
 throat and neck, and having the centre of each 
 feather reddish umber brown, the shaft darker, 
 forming a series of broad, well marked, longitudi- 
 
GOSHAWK. 161 
 
 nal streaks ; on the thighs, the shafts only are 
 dark, broadening gently toward the tips, and on 
 the insides the feathers are spotless ; on the under 
 tail coverts the shaft or marking is only con- 
 spicuous at the tip, where it is of a spatulate form. 
 
 Having now noticed the whole limited number 
 of birds representing the sub-typical family of the 
 Falconidae in Britain, we are about to enter the 
 aberrant group, which exhibits more variation of 
 structure ; but the species of this country which 
 enter into the three sections composing it, are 
 also so few, that it is impossible to detail the 
 minute gradations of form, without the introduc- 
 tion of numerous foreign birds, and we shall 
 simply, therefore', state, that it contains birds of 
 varied form and size, generally less active than 
 those of the two preceding divisions ; the bill 
 more lengthened and never toothed ; the wings 
 of intermediate length, but pointed, and more 
 similar in structure to those of the Falcons, than 
 of the Hawks. The Eagles, Harriers, and Kite 
 like birds have been taken as representing the 
 sub-families. We commence with the 
 
162 
 
 AQUILINJE, EAGLES. 
 
 These may be said to be marked by a very forge 
 size, a heavy form, long wings, very powerful and 
 muscular feet, the tarsi proportionally short, but 
 strong, and more or less plumed. The head is 
 also frequently crested, beautifully so in some 
 foreign birds, and exhibiting an approach to it in 
 the lengthened feathers on the hind head of the 
 Osprey, and in the lanceolate formed plumes of 
 the Golden Eagle. The typical birds, or true 
 eagles, are well exemplified by the beautiful Falco 
 imperialist Temm. of Europe and Northern 
 Africa ; by the A. fucosa of New Holland, where 
 the tail begins to vary in form, and is cuneated ; 
 and by our own noble bird the Golden Eagle. 
 We have only two British birds entering into the 
 first or aquiline sub-family. The extent of their 
 geographical range is, however, greater than that 
 of the last. The Golden Eagle stretches over 
 Europe, is mentioned by Dr Richardson as occur- 
 ring among the Rocky Mountains, and affords the 
 favourite war plumes for the natives. It is also 
 found in Alpine India, specimens having been 
 received from the Himalayan range. The Sea 
 Eagle extends through Europe to Asia and Ame- 
 rica The Osprey is abundant in North America, 
 
PLATE 11. 
 
 /. //////// y/ /;>/////-. 2. (>s/>rt'i/. 
 
163 
 
 and we also possess specimens from New Holland, 
 while it has been remitted by Seibold from Japan. 
 Among the Aquiline group the eggs still retain 
 the comparatively rounded form, but the ground 
 colour is pale, and there is a want of very decided 
 markings. 
 
 PLATE XI. 
 
 Eggs of Golden Eagle and Osprey, 
 
 will illustrate the eggs of two birds belonging to 
 this group. Fig. 1, that of the Golden Eagle, is 
 a variety more than usually blotched with mark- 
 Ings of rich purplish brown. It was procured in 
 the county of Sutherland. Fig. 2, the Osprey, 
 was taken from a nest in Loch Menteith. The 
 egg of the Sea Eagle is commonly almost pure 
 white, or very slightly blotched. 
 
 AQUILA, generic characters. Bill lengthened, 
 straight at the base, but much hooked towards 
 the tip ; edges of the mandible with a faint 
 obtuse lobe ; nostrils oval, and placed trans- 
 versely ; wings with the fourth and fifth 
 quills longest ; tarsi and feet strong, the 
 former feathered for the whole or a portion 
 of their length ; toes comparatively short ; 
 claws remarkably strong and hooked, grooved 
 beneath, outer and hind claws longest. 
 
164 
 
 EAGLES. 
 
 . _ Cosmopolite ; breed on precipitous 
 cliffs. Generally strike their prey on the 
 ground, being too heavy to pursue it rapidly 
 Solitary. 
 
 A. chryxuta. 
 
GOLDEN EAGLE. 167 
 
 destroyed,* which, while it shews that the bird 
 is not of that extreme rarity which is some- 
 times supposed, it, at the same time, tells us that 
 if the war of extermination be continued, we shall 
 ere long look in vain for this appropriate orna- 
 ment of our northern landscape. In Ireland it is 
 generally distributed where the situations are 
 favourable, but at the same time is much more 
 uncommon than the Sea Eagle. The Horn Head, 
 the mountain of Rosheen, near Dunfanaghy, 
 Achill Island, and Crovvpatric, are mentioned 
 by Mr Thompson as now or formerly containing 
 eyries on their precipices ; from Rosheen they 
 have been now driven off, on account of the 
 destruction done to the flocks. The nest, placed 
 on a ledge perfectly inaccessible, was set on fire 
 by burning a lighted brand, and was consumed 
 with its tenants ; the parents have since forsaken 
 a station where they had been attacked in a 
 manner so unusual. 
 
 The eyry of the Golden Eagle is placed on 
 the face of some stupendous cliff situated inland ; 
 the nest is built on a projecting shelve, or on 
 some stumped tree that grows from the rock, 
 generally in a situation perfectly inaccessible 
 without some artificial means, and often out of 
 the reach of shot either from below or from the 
 
 * This includes, however, both the Sea and Golden 
 Kagles ; nevertheless the number of old birds is great. 
 
168 GOLDEN EAGLE. 
 
 top of the precipice. It is composed of dead 
 branches, roots of heather, &c. entangled strongly 
 together, and in considerable quantity, but with- 
 out any lining in the inside ; the eggs are two 
 in number, white, with pale brown or purplish 
 blotches, most numerous and largest at the 
 thicker end. (See Plate XI. fig. 1.) During the 
 season of incubation, the quantity of food that is 
 procured and brought hither is almost incredible ; 
 it is composed of nearly all the inhabitants, or 
 their young, of those wild districts called forests, 
 which, though indicating a wooded region, are 
 often tracts where for miles around a tree is not 
 seen. Hares, lambs, and the young of deer and 
 roebuck, grouse, black game, ptarmigan, curlews, 
 and plovers, all contribute to the feast. 
 
 The manner in which the eagles hunt or survey 
 the ground is by soaring above, often to an 
 immense height ; the ascent is performed by 
 circles, a beautiful appearance in flight. When 
 the prey is perceived, it is rushed upon by a rapid 
 and instantaneous sweep ; and surprised ere it. can 
 escape, or paralyzed by terror, the object is gene- 
 rally at once seized. The weight of the birds and 
 the great resistance presented to the air by their 
 large bodies and expansive wings, prevent pursuit 
 being often tried, though we have instances men- 
 tioned. Montague relates one where a wounded 
 grouse was seized before the guns could be 
 
GOLDEN EAGLE. 169 
 
 reloaded, and another, where a black cock was 
 sprung and instantly pursued ; " the eagle made 
 several pounces in our view, but without success."* 
 
 Mr Thompson has given us the following infor- 
 mation of the manner of hunting : An Eagle 
 was seen by Mr Adams, lately gamekeeper at 
 Glencairn, in pursuit of a hare. The poor animal 
 took refuge under every bush that presented 
 itself, which, as often as shs did, the Eagle 
 approached the bush, so near as apparently to 
 beat the top of it with his wings, and thereby 
 forced the hare to leave her place of refuge. In 
 this way she was eventually driven to open ground, 
 which did not long avail, as the Eagle soon came 
 up with and bore her off. Another anecdote is 
 related on the authority of a sporting friend. 
 " When out hunting among the Belfast moun- 
 tains, an Eagle appeared above his hounds as 
 thej' came to fault on the ascent to Devis, the 
 highest of the chain. As they came on the scent 
 again, and were at full cry, the Eagle for a short 
 time kept above them, but at length advanced 
 and carried off the hare, when at the distance of 
 from three to four hundred paces before the 
 hounds. w f 
 
 The distribution of this species extends over 
 the northern parts of Europe ; but towards the 
 
 * Montague, Supplement. 
 
 t See Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. p. 45. 
 
170 GOLDEN EAGLF,. 
 
 south the birds become less frequent. It also 
 inhabits North America, but appears to be there 
 generally rare, although in the United States, 
 according to Audubon, it is frequently seen. In 
 the fur countries it again becomes rare ;* and 
 the above mentioned naturalist saw a single spe- 
 cimen only on the coast of Labrador, " sailing 
 at the height of a few yards above the moss- 
 covered surface of the dreary rocks." f 
 
 In confinement this bird is easily kept, becomes 
 tame, or accustomed to its keeper, but never very 
 familiar, and, so far as our observations have 
 extended, will never partake of carrion, or food 
 in a state of putrescence. 
 
 Mr Thompson has, however, made some obser- 
 vations which would warrant us to allow a greater 
 degree of docility to this bird than we were 
 previously inclined to grant it. " My friend, 
 Richard Langtry, Esq. of Fortwilliam, near Bel- 
 fast, has at present a bird of this species, which 
 is extremely docile and tractable. It was taken 
 last summer from a nest in Inverness-shire, and 
 came into his possession about the end of Sep- 
 tember. This bird at once became attached to 
 its owner, who, after having it about a month, 
 ventured to give it liberty, a privilege which was 
 not abused, as it came to the lure whenever called. 
 
 * Richardson. t Ornith. Biog. ii. p. 466. 
 
GOLDEN EAGLE. 171 
 
 It not only permits itself to be handled in any 
 way, but seems to derive pleasure from the appli- 
 cation of the hand to the legs and plumage. This 
 Eagle was hooded after the manner of the hunting 
 hawks for some time, but the practice was aban- 
 doned ; and although it may yet be requisite, if 
 the bird be trained for the chase, hooding is 
 otherwise unnecessary, as it remains quiet and 
 contented for any length of time, and no matter 
 how far carried on its master's arm. When this 
 Eagle is at large, my friend has only to hold out 
 his arm towards it, which, as soon as perceived 
 even from a distance, it flies to and perches on. 
 It is more partial to alighting on trees than the 
 Sea Eagles, (which are kept also,) and, stationed 
 on their tops, keeps its master in view, following 
 him about the demesne, and where plantations 
 often intervene, flying from one to another in the 
 direction he walks, indolently remaining as long 
 as possible where it perches, consistently with 
 keeping him in sight."* 
 
 The states of plumage in which the adult and 
 the young birds of this species appear, being so 
 different and decidedly marked, gave rise to the 
 long prevalent opinion that they were distinct. 
 Papers were written advocating both sides of the 
 question ; and it was not perhaps until within 
 
 * Mag. of Zool. and Dot. ii. r/. 46. 
 
172 GOLDEN EAGLE. 
 
 these twelve or fifteen years, that modern ornitho- 
 logists were really convincedof thereverse and ven- 
 tured to unite the various names as synonymous. 
 In a wild state, the plumage attains its adult con- 
 dition nearly by the third year, though the colours 
 of the base of the tail darken considerably after . 
 that. In confinement, it often does not take place 
 fully until the fourth or fifth year, and a female 
 which we kept from the nest for six years, had 
 the base of the tail feathers in the intervals be- 
 tween the dark bars remarkably pure. 
 
 The colours of the adult birds are generally a 
 deep and rich umber brown, glossed with purple 
 on the back and wings ; on the hind head and back 
 of the neck, the feathers are of a hackled or lan- 
 ceolate form, pale orange brown, occasionally 
 edged with a paler tint, and when shone upon by 
 the sun or a strong light, have a brilliant, almost 
 golden appearance. The fronts of the thighs, 
 shoulders, and tarsi, are of the same pale orange 
 brown colour. The quills are blackish brown, 
 nearly black, white towards the base on the inner 
 webs, and clouded with grayish black. The 
 secondaries are clouded with hair brown, brocoli 
 brown, and umber brown. The tail, with the 
 exception of the centre feathers, is nearly 
 square; these are narrowed towards the point, 
 and exceed the others in length, a form which 
 
GOLDKA EAGLE. 173 
 
 prevails considerably in the true Eagles, and is 
 greatly developed in the New Holland Wedge- 
 tailed Eagle, (Aq. fucosa.) The colour of the 
 tail is grayish brown, palest and almost ap- 
 proaching to white on the base of the inner 
 webs, only the whole appears very dark from 
 the crowded arrangement of the dark mark- 
 ings ; these are of very deep umber or blackish 
 brown, disposed in bars across, and irregular 
 clouding in the intervals. In the young birds, 
 the terminal band is always present ; but the 
 base of the whole tail is pure white, which is 
 gradually obliterated by the occurrence of addi- 
 tional bars and clouded markings year after year, 
 commencing at first immediately above the ter- 
 minal bar, and gradually ascending and becoming 
 closer as their age advances. White also predo- 
 minates on the other parts of the plumage ; the 
 quills and secondaries have a much greater pro- 
 portion at the base, and there is a similar distribu- 
 tion in greater or less proportions at the roots of 
 the feathers over the whole body, which, as with 
 the tail, is lost and obscured by the gradual occur- 
 rence of bars and cloudings. The irides of the 
 young birds are dark, but with age grow paler, 
 and become a clear orange brown. The colours 
 of the cere and legs, from greenish yellow, assume 
 a pure gamboge tint. 
 
?74 
 
 THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 
 
 Aquila albicitta WILLOUGHBY. 
 PLATE XIII. 
 
 Vultur albicilla, Linn. Aquila albicilla, Willoughby. 
 
 Falco albicilla, Fauna Sues, and Gmel Haliseetua 
 
 albicilla, Selby Sea Eagle, Cinereous Eagle of Brit 
 
 Ornithol. Aquila albicilla, Swain, in Lard. Cyclop. 
 
 IT is with every deference to the opinions of 
 our distinguished modern ornithologists that we 
 place this bird among the Eagles ; but after ana- 
 lyzing the characters of the White-Tailed and 
 White-Headed Eagles, we do not find sufficient 
 distinguishing marks to warrant their separation 
 into distinct genera, and for the present prefer the 
 arrangement which proposes to unite them. 
 
 This bird often presents a fine feature in the 
 wild and desolate landscape. Its most favourite 
 haunts in Britain are the northern coasts of Scot- 
 land, where the headlands reach a stupendous 
 height, are perpendicular on the face, and where 
 the shelves and ledges selected for a breeding 
 or roosting place, can be tenanted secure from 
 the inroads of an aggressor, either from above or 
 
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 175 
 
 beneath.* Here he resides constantly at one 
 season, or he finds a safe shelter during the night, 
 after his more extended hunting excursions ; his 
 screams scarcely sound above the noise of the 
 surge below, or the storm which may rage around 
 the rocky pinnacles ; but the occasional shriek 
 heard in a moment of quiet, tells forcibly on the 
 imagination while viewing such scenes, and the 
 noble bird himself alone attracts the eye amidst 
 the numerous sea-fowl his companions, his pale 
 grey tinted plumage and pure outspread tail, 
 being marked objects, when opposed to the dark 
 green sea, or the deep and rich shades of many 
 of these splendid precipices. In such situations 
 the eyries are most frequently found, and the 
 nest is there reared, and the young are hatched 
 in safety, notwithstanding the bribes offered for 
 their destruction. The nest is also sometimes 
 placed in more inland sites. The precipitous 
 crags overhanging some alpine loch are often 
 chosen, and such is " Eagles' Crag," among the 
 lakes of the English border, and the " Eagle's 
 nest," at Killarney. Trees are also selected, 
 
 * Such situations, according to Mr Thopmson, are the 
 most commonly selected eyries in Ireland, and there the 
 Sea Eagle seems far from being rare The Horn-head, 
 Malin-head, the extreme northern point of Ireland, 
 Achil-head, and Fair-.head, a basaltic promontory in An- 
 trim, are among its maritime stations ; and they breed 
 inland among the Mourne mountains. 
 
176 WHITE-TAILED 1IAGLE 
 
 though much less frequently. We visited a nest 
 placed on an aged larch, growing on one of the 
 romantic islands in Loch Awe. It was a large 
 fabric of sticks, placed about half way up the 
 tree, (the nest of a Sparrowhawk was a model of 
 it in miniature,) built close to the stem, very flat, 
 but strongly composed of sticks and roots, and 
 lined in a very miscellaneous manner ; wool 
 formed the greatest part, moss also, and a child's 
 bonnet, and part of a bridle were in its struc- 
 ture.* The eggs are generally two in number, 
 larger than those of the Golden Eagle, round in 
 form, and pure white, or with very pale indistinct 
 blotches. In England the breeding places of the 
 Sea Eagle are now very rare, perhaps not moro 
 than one or two. The birds themselves are, 
 however, not unfrequently met with and shot, 
 both in the south and in the border counties 
 of Scotland, which are also beyond their breeding 
 range ; but the greater part of the birds thus 
 killed are in immature plumage. 
 
 From its occurrence in greatest numbers near 
 the sea, or in the vicinity of some extensive piece 
 of water, the commonly used name has been 
 
 * Mr Thompson describes a nest on the " Horn-head," 
 as composed in its " first layer : it was composed of strong 
 stems of heather, and was lined with the tender twigs of 
 heath, and with plants of Luciola sylvatica." Mag. of 
 Zool. and Dot. II. p. 47 
 
WHITE- TAILED EAGLE. 177 
 
 gained for this bird ; but though delighting in 
 fish, and often procuring this kind of food, we 
 have no record by an eye-witness how the scaiy 
 prey is seized ; it is not a true fisher like the 
 Osprey, its structure is very different, and we 
 have no authority for believing that it plunges. 
 Its congener in America, we know, depends 
 entirely on the prowess of another bird for the 
 fish it procures, and is, moreover, very awkward 
 in the attempts which it has been seen to 
 make upon fish in their native element. But 
 though fish is certainly the most favourite food, 
 nothing seems to come far amiss ; dead ani- 
 mals are sometimes even eaten, and he can hp 
 easily trapped by a bait of raw or newly killed 
 meat. In confinement we have observed no 
 nicety whatever, except in discriminating a fish 
 from any other kind of food ; and a female which 
 has been long in our possession, comes much 
 more eagerly to the front of her cage, and 
 appears more alert than usual when a trout is 
 presented to her view. 
 
 The general colour of the plumage of the adult 
 Sea Eagle is a chaste hair brown, of a peculiar 
 dull or opaque tint ; on the head and upper 
 parts it is palest, the centre of the back and 
 tinder parts being considerably darker ; the head 
 and upper part of the neck are covered with 
 lanceolate shaped feathers, which are raised o 
 
 M 
 
178 WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 
 
 excitement or irritation, and the tint here is 
 remarkably clear, appearing at a distance, when 
 shone on by the sun, almost white ; the quills are 
 blackish brown, with a purplish tinge, and have 
 the shafts pale ; the upper tail coverts and tail 
 are pure white, and in all the attitudes of the 
 bird are conspicuously seen. This mark of per- 
 fect plumage is considered to be completed about 
 the third moult, but the female above alluded to 
 had not a perfectly pure tail at the age of five 
 years, the outer feathers retaining a considerable 
 portion of the brown mottling, which is seen in 
 the second year's plumage. Now, at the age of 
 i>even years, the tail is unsullied ; the bill and cere 
 are straw yellow, the latter of a darker, rather 
 greener tint ; the iris is remarkably beautiful, of 
 a pale grayish honey yellow, very brilliant and 
 expressive. 
 
 The plumage of the young bird, or Cinereous 
 Eagle of authors, is generally of an umber brown, 
 of a grayer tint beneath, the feathers tipped with 
 a paler shade, and often white at the base ; the 
 tail is mottled with pale brownish white and clove 
 brown, and with the successive moults the pro- 
 portion of pale colour increases, prevailing most 
 at the base and centre of the tail ; the colour of 
 the bill is less clear, more mixed with green, and 
 the iris is pale chestnut brown, but of a clear 
 expression. The form of this species is less com- 
 
P4ND1ON. 179 
 
 pact and firm than that of the Golden Eagle, and 
 when at rest it appears more sluggish, from the 
 greater coverts being brought forward and kept 
 in a hanging position over the quills, covering the 
 thighs and a portion of the side of the bird.* 
 
 From these two noble birds we pass to the true 
 Fishing Eagles, the British form of which is seen in 
 the genus Pandion or Osprey^ where the adaptation 
 of structure to the habits of the birds is beautifully 
 displayed. They subsist entirely by their own 
 exertions, watching for and pursuing fish, with as 
 much avidity as the true Eagles hunt their game 
 on the land or in the air. Taking the common 
 Osprey as typical, we perceive a form strong and 
 compact, the head small, the wings very long and 
 powerful, and sharp pointed ; but the tail is short 
 and square, being only an assistant in balancing 
 the bird when surveying the water beneath, swift 
 evolutions, or rapid turnings, forming no part of 
 its style of hunting. The prey is seized in the 
 water, struck by the feet of the bird> and these 
 members, with the tarsi, are short and remarkably 
 powerful. The toes and claws are perfect grasp- 
 
 * In spring I have seen the White Tailed Eagle appa- 
 rently paired with Osifragus, arid I have reason to believe 
 
 that they breed together J. V. Stewart, Esq. Loudon'a 
 
 Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. p. 580 
 
ISO 
 
 PANDION. 
 
 ing instruments ; the outer toe is versatile, and 
 the lower surface of the whole foot, particularly 
 on the raised pads which are placed under the 
 joints, have the surface studded with hard and 
 sharp pyramidal points, which enables them to 
 hold their prey, however slippery, whether pierced 
 by the claws or not ; the claws are very strong, 
 curved so as to form a part of a circle, and 
 remarkably sharp, while they exhibit another 
 peculiarity in being perfectly rounded, a struc- 
 ture which will allow either an easy piercing, or 
 a quick retraction or loosening of the hold, if the 
 prey should prove too weighty. 
 
 PANDION. Generic character. Bill strong, 
 rather straight at the base, the edges of the 
 mandible, with an abortive lobe, or slight 
 angular projection near the centre ; nostrils 
 oblong-ovate, placed obliquely, and extend- 
 
PANDION. 
 
 181 
 
 ing nearly the whole breadth of the cero ; 
 wings long, (exceeding the tail,) second and 
 third quill longest, and with the first much cut 
 in on the inner web ; tail short and square ; 
 legs muscular and strong, covered with 
 round, hard, and jagged scales ; feet with 
 the toes free, and nearly of equal length, the 
 outer toe versatile ; the under surface covered 
 with sharp pyramidal points ; claws much 
 curved, very long and sharp, the under sur- 
 face rounded ; femoral plumes short. 
 
 Note. Cosmopolite ; habits aquatic ; inhabit 
 Europe, India, North America, South Africa, 
 and New Holland ; breed on rocks, aged 
 trees, or ruined buildings ; solitary. 
 
182 
 
 THE OSPREY. 
 
 Pandion haliaetus. SAVIGNY. 
 PLATE XIV. 
 
 Falco haliaeetus, Linn. tyc. Aigle balbusard, Temm. 
 
 Balbusardus haliaeetus, Fleming Osprey of 
 
 British ornithologists. Fish Hawk, Wilson. 
 
 THE wilder character of the northern parts of 
 our island, thickly studded with lochs and rivers 
 abounding with fish, is much more consonant 
 with the habits of the Osprey than the cultivated 
 margins of the southern streams : consequently 
 we find it a rare bird south of the Forth, the 
 individuals which are seen or captured there 
 being stragglers or occasional visitants at a dis- 
 tance from their native haunts. 
 
 They are recorded as being occasionally seen 
 in Devonshire, and other parts of the south of 
 England, by Colonel Montague and other writers. 
 Tracing them northwards, we have little indication 
 of their appearance about the " English lakes ; " 
 and the bird is not mentioned in Dr Heysham's 
 catalogue of the animals of Cumberland. Upon 
 the Tweed, they seem to appear oeriodically, 
 
OSPREY. 183 
 
 and several specimens have been procured from 
 thence. Two were shot on the property of Lord 
 Home, while frequenting some extensive sheets 
 of water, the resort of immense quantities of 
 water-fowl ; and another was killed on the river 
 in 1835. Crossing the Forth, we shall find a pair 
 at least, frequenting each of the larger lochs ; 
 and in Ross and Sutherland they are even more 
 abundant. In some districts, four or five may 
 be seen during the day ; and at the mouth of 
 the Laxford, in the latter county, we daily saw 
 from two to four fishing at the retreat of the 
 tide ; three were frequently seen fishing at a 
 time. 
 
 It is north of the Forth, also, that the Osprey 
 breeds, for we have no recorded instance of the 
 duties of incubation being performed in the south. 
 The numerous lochs of the Highlands are thickly 
 studded with islands, wild and rocky, rich and 
 picturesque. On many of them, are the remains 
 of buildings, towers or eastles, created in the 
 cause of religion or of war, but now crumbling 
 fast with the advance of time. The chimney of 
 these, or, if it be wanting, the highest pinnacle of 
 the ruin, is selected for the site of the eyry, and 
 on this is built a nest of large and unwieldy 
 structure, composed of sticks and branches. On 
 some islands where no ruin stands, the highest 
 rock is chosen ; and on Loch Menteith, the old 
 
184 OSPREY. 
 
 chestnut trees, we think, serve for a support. 
 The eyries we have seen and examined were, 
 however, always placed on the summit of the ruin, 
 though trees, aged, high, and stumped, were fre- 
 quent in the vicinity. These nests are returned to 
 year after year, and though one of the partners is 
 often shot, the summer has not half run before 
 another has been obtained. The eggs are of a 
 more lengthened form than what we generally 
 see among the Falconidae, and are yellowish 
 white, thickly spotted, or blotched with yellowish 
 brown. (See Plate XI. fig. 2.) 
 
 When fishing, it flies, with a slow and rather 
 heavy and laborious flight, along the stream or 
 lake, until its attention is arrested, when it 
 balances itself by a rapid motion of the wings, 
 and with the tail expanded. Before striking, a 
 descent is generally made nearer the water, and 
 a renewed inspection is continued, after which 
 the dash or plunge is made with closed wings, 
 and the body is sometimes immersed, and gene- 
 rally quite obscured by the spray of the plunge. 
 If unsuccessful, the bird rises, shakes the water 
 from its plumage in the air, and after a circle 
 around, returns to resume its survey. If, how- 
 ever, the prey has been struck, we have always 
 seen it fly directly to some distant hill or rock, 
 where it is devoured. It is never carried to the 
 shore and immediately eaten ; but from the 
 
OSPBEY. 185 
 
 accounts we have received from persons living in 
 the vicinity of their haunts, we have occasion tt> 
 think that it sometimes feeds in the air, or, at 
 least, soars to a considerable heignt, and sports 
 with its victim before coming to its resting-place. 
 Water-fowl or game, or the small animals, seem 
 very seldom attacked. It is a true fishing Eagle, 
 and with a well-appointed apparatus ; there are 
 instances on record where other prey is resorted 
 to, but we believe such to be caused by neces- 
 sity, and where the want of usual subsistence 
 could not be overcome. 
 
 The Ospre}' seems to be frequent in some 
 other countries of Europe, particularly Norway, 
 and is otherwise widely distributed. It is very 
 common in North America, and is known under 
 the name of " Fish Hawk."* We possess speci- 
 mens from New Holland, and Temminck records 
 it from Japan and the Cape of Good Hope.f 
 
 The intensity in the colouring of the plumage 
 of the Osprey varies in two specimens before 
 us. The upper parts in the one are very light, 
 and a great proportion of white is seen in the 
 head. In some, again, we have seen the pectoral 
 band complete ; in others, it was scarcely marked, 
 except by a few spots or streaks. The former 
 
 * See Wilson's North American Ornithology, where 
 the history will be read with interest. 
 t Temm. Man. Supp. p. 16. 
 
186 OSPREY. 
 
 state Mr Selby considers as marking the younger 
 birds. 
 
 A specimen, which appears adult, is in length 
 about twenty-three inches. Bill blueish black, 
 much hooked, and presenting the form of the 
 lower outline in our wood- cut.* The feathers on 
 the hind head, we should almost say the nape, 
 are long and lanceolate, and when raised, shew 
 the commencement of an occipital crest. Head 
 and nape white, streaked irregularly with deep 
 umber brown, a distribution caused by the tips, 
 or half the tips, being of that colour. The pos- 
 terior part of the auriculars, wings, and back, are 
 dark umber brown. The tips of the feathers on 
 the back and scapulars paler. The quills are very 
 dark, and exceed the tail in length by nearly 
 an inch, white at the base on the insides, and 
 clouded with dark bars ; the under wing coverts 
 white, barred with umber brown. The tail is 
 short and square ; the feathers composing it 
 ample ; the colour umber brown, barred with a 
 paler tint, which is nearly white in the outer 
 plumes ; the shafts white ; the under parts pure 
 white ; the pectoral band indicated by lan- 
 ceolate streaks of umber brown. 
 
 * The upper figure is from a New Holland specimen, 
 
187 
 
 CYMINDINJE, OR TRUE KITES. 
 
 IF we remove Milvus (the common Kite of 
 British authors) from that section with which it 
 has hitherto been placed, receiving it as the 
 Fissirostral form ^among the Harriers and Buz- 
 zards, then the title of " Milvince" would be very 
 inappropriate for our present sub-family, and the 
 British members of it will be reduced to only one 
 species. We do think that it has been errone- 
 ously placed here, and we have, for the present, 
 adopted Mr Swainson's name of Cymindince, 
 leaving it, however, for future observation to 
 determine whether or not the birds which pre- 
 sently compose the genus Cymindis are typical of 
 this sub-family. 
 
 One species, the Swallow-tailed Hawk of 
 Wilson, occurring very rarely within the British 
 boundaries, is the only bird which gives our 
 Fauna any claim to boast of this graceful form. 
 There is some confusion in the generic name 
 which should be applied to this bird, and we are 
 not sure that we can now clear it up. Savigny 
 appears to have given " Elanus" to the E. mela- 
 nopterus as a distinct form, but not including in 
 it that of our British representative, which widely 
 differs ; while the title of Nauclerus was given by 
 
J88 CYMINDIN-flE. 
 
 Mr Vigors to this bird and to the N. Riocourii, 
 \\hen he mide out his valuable observations on 
 the " affinities of birds." They appear to us to 
 differ considerably, and we are now inclined to 
 adopt for the long and fork-tailed species the 
 generic title of the latter ornithologist. 
 
 NAUCLERUS. Generic character. Bill short, 
 weak, compressed ; nostrils oval, oblique, 
 covered with bristles at the base ; wings 
 long, the second or third quill longest ; tail 
 Jong, very much forked ; feet short, weak, 
 tarsi reticulated, the acrostarsia below the 
 knees plumed to the middle, claws nearly 
 round ; body slender. (Vigor's Zool. Jour.) 
 
139 
 
 FWALLOW-TAILED NAUCLERUS. 
 
 Nauderus furcatus VIGORS. 
 PLATE XV. 
 
 Falco furcatus Linn. Elanus furcatus, Savigny Nau 
 
 clems furcatus, Vigors. Swallow-tailed Hawk, Wilson. 
 Swallow-tailed Elanus, Selby. 
 
 WE can only notice, what has been repeatedly 
 done before, the capture of the two specimens 
 which have given this bird a partial claim to a 
 place in our Fauna. The one was killed near 
 Ballachulish in Argyllshire; the other, in 1805, 
 was taken alive in Yorkshire ; but since this, 
 notwithstanding the strict attention which has 
 been given to our native ornithology, no other 
 species has been discovered. 
 
 The Argyllshire bird is recorded by the late 
 Dr Walker, and the Yorkshire specimen was taken 
 by Mr Fothergill, of Carr-End, near Arkrigg. A 
 notice of this fact was communicated to the Lin- 
 nsen Society, and printed in their Transactions. 
 Mr Fothergill states, that, " apparently to avoid 
 the violence of a tremendous thunder-storm, and 
 the clamorous persecution of a flock of rooks 
 
190 SWALLOW-TAILED NAUCLERUS. 
 
 which attacked it at the same instant, it took 
 shelter in a thicket, where it was seized before it 
 could extricate itself. The person who caught 
 it kept it a month ; but a door being accidentally 
 iefl open, it made its escape. It first alighted on 
 a tree at no great distance, from which it soon 
 ascended in a spiral flight to a great elevation, 
 and then went steadily off in a southerly direction 
 as far as the eye could trace it." 
 
 The best accounts of the habits of this bird are 
 to be found in the works of Wilson and Audubon. 
 It is a native of the Southern States of North 
 America, extending into Mexico, performing 
 migrations southward from the colder districts, 
 and, according to Audubon, never seen farther to 
 the eastward than Pennsylvania. The most 
 remarkable peculiarity in its history, is its great 
 power of flight and the manner of feeding, which, 
 when considered along with the slender form and 
 elongated forked tail, are very strong evidences 
 of its being the representative here of the inces- 
 sorial Fissirostres. The flight is described by all 
 as remarkably easy, graceful, and buoyant, and 
 great use is made of the tail in directing the turns 
 and windings. The food is snakes, lizards, and 
 small reptiles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and large 
 insects. Audubon says, that in pursuit of these 
 they never alight, but clutch them up with an 
 easy stoop, and without ny apparent exertion, 
 
SWALLOW-TAILED NAUCLERUS. 191 
 
 and, having seized the prey, devour it in the air. 
 " At other times they dash along the trunks of 
 trees, and snap off the pupae of the locust, or that 
 insect itself;" or, " in calm and warm weather, 
 they soar to an immense height, paisuiiig the 
 large insects called mosquito hawks, performing 
 the most singular evolutions that can be con- 
 ceived, and using their tail with an elegance of 
 motion peculiar to themselves."* 
 
 The same author we have just now quoted, 
 records the breeding places of this bird to be on 
 trees, the nest resembling that of a crow, being 
 composed of dried sticks, and lined with grass 
 and a few feathers. The eggs are of a greenish 
 white colour, with a few irregular blotches of 
 dark brown at the larger end. 
 
 Not possessing a specimen, we abstain from 
 giving a minute description of the plumage. Our 
 figure will, however, give a tolerable idea of the 
 rich contrast which the prevailing tints of pure 
 white and deep glossy blackish green afford. The 
 young birds are said to be at first covered with 
 buff coloured down, and, in their first plumage, 
 to want the changing tints of the adults. The 
 length appears to be from twenty-three to twenty- 
 six inches. 
 
 We now proceed to the third aberrant form, 
 the 
 
 * Auduhon's Orn Bic*. I. p. 369. 
 
192 
 
 CIRCIN^E, HARRIFRS. 
 
 WE agree with Mr Swainson in thinking, that 
 the Harriers (Circus) are the typical or repre- 
 senting form in this sub-family ; and it would have 
 been better, perhaps, for that ornithologist at once 
 to have changed the name to Circince, than to 
 continue what seemed incorrect. We agree also 
 with his views in placing the kite and its allies in 
 this circle, and withdrawing it as the typical form of 
 the preceding. In the system which he has pub- 
 lished, one section is not filled up the Tenui- 
 rostral form ; while the analogies ot Pernis, of 
 the Honey Buzzards, are left almost without 
 notice. The opinion, however, " that extreme 
 shortness of foot "* would indicate the Tenui- 
 rostral form in the four sub-families, where it 
 yet remained to be discovered, receives strength 
 from the structure of this member in these birds. 
 The foot is not in proportion much shorter, 
 but it exhibits an imperfection of form in rela- 
 tion to a raptorial bird, which is very marked, 
 and which, taken in connection with the weak 
 bill, may naturally lead us to suppose that Pernis 
 would represent the Tenuirostral form in the 
 Circince, and as such we shall now consider it. 
 
 Lardner's Encyc. p. 319. 
 
HARRIERS. 193 
 
 The range of the distribution of our British 
 species are, in some instances, extended, in others 
 the reverse ; the Rough-legged Buzzard is North 
 American and European ; the Common Buzzard, 
 on the authority of Dr Richardson, occurs in 
 North America, and we have a beautiful speci- 
 men, procured in Madeira by Mr Carruthers of 
 Dormont, while Temminck mentions it as Japa- 
 nese ; the Kite seems to be European only, and 
 even in its range is extremely local ; here it is 
 found in several districts in England, and is 
 abundant in many parts ot the West Highlands, 
 but is again not to be seen in other parts appa- 
 rently equally favourable. "We know the Honey 
 Buzzard as an extra European bird, on the autho- 
 rity of Mr Gould. The Harriers again as a genus, 
 are distributed over the world, are very closely 
 allied in form, colour, and also in habits ; but it is 
 not yet quite authenticated over how many quar- 
 ters of the globe the species of Britain range ; we 
 possess specimens from North America which we 
 consider identical, though the bird is described 
 with a ? by the learned authors of the Northern 
 Zoology : we have also Circi from India, Africa, 
 and New Holland, nearly allied, but they are all 
 distinct and well marked species. 
 
 The eggs in this sub-family are characterized 
 by a pale ground, with cloudings of different 
 shades of brown ; but in the typical form, which 
 K 
 
194 HARRIERS. 
 
 leads us immediately to the Owls, the colour is 
 often uniform, and when clouded, the marking* 
 are very indistinct. The general colour in the 
 Harriers is uniform greenish white, the clouded 
 specimens may be termed the variety, and does not 
 occur once in twelve or fifteen nests. (See 
 Plate XXV. figs. 1 and 2.) The colouring of what 
 may be termed the Buzzards, will be seen on the 
 annexed Plate. 
 
 PLATE XVI. 
 
 Eggs of Common Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, and Kite. 
 
 Those of the Harriers will be represented with 
 the Owls, to shew their close similarity. The 
 eggs of the Buzzard, represented fig. 1, is a 
 common variety ; it is often more closely blotched, 
 and the colour is darker ; we have also seen them 
 nearly pure white. That of the Kite (fig. 3.) is 
 rather more distinctly marked than usual ; and 
 for that of the Honey Buzzard (fig. 2.) we are 
 indebted to the kindness of Mr Hewitson, who 
 has allowed us to copy his figure taken from a 
 specimen in possession of Mr Doubleday. 
 
 The Circine group may be said generally 
 to be more sluggish and inactive in their habits 
 than any of the families we have yet examined ; 
 their manners are as it were more slow and 
 deliberate, and in hunting their prey, rapid pur- 
 
PLATE Hi. 
 
HARRIERS. 195 
 
 suit or quick movements are not employed, but 
 habits of watchfulness by soaring may be per- 
 ceived, or a slow but persevering flight. Their 
 form, with the exception of Circus, as may be 
 surmised from these remarks, is heavy, rather 
 inelegant ; the expansion of the wings ample, 
 but of that rounded and hollow construction 
 which is unfavourable for great activity. The 
 True Buzzards seem to lead to the Eagles on 
 the one hand, and to Astur in the Accipitrine 
 circle on the other ; the connection of the Kites 
 to Nauclerus is at once perceived, while the 
 peculiarity of the facial disk in the Harriers at 
 once brings us to the Owls. 
 
 BUTEO. Generic characters. Bill weak, 
 slightly bending from the base., compressed, 
 edge of the mandible very slightly lobed, 
 cere ? arge, nostrils pyreform, with the 
 narrow point placed upwards and forwards, 
 situate obliquely ; wings long, ample, first 
 quill shortest, equaling the seventh ; fourth 
 longest, the four first with the webs deeply 
 notched, decreasing in depth with the fifth, 
 and afterwards becoming limited ; legs and 
 feet short but strong ; claws short, not much 
 hooked. 
 
 Note. Runs into Aquila by the common form 
 
196 HARRIERS. 
 
 of the genus ; into Astur by means of the 
 J9. borealis, which in the structure of the 
 tarsi and wings, is nearly as much allied to 
 the one genus as the other ; inhabits Europe, 
 Africa, and North America ; habits chiefly 
 sylvan ; breed on trees or rocks. 
 
THE ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 
 
 JButeo lagopus FLEMING. 
 PLATE XVII. 
 
 Falco lagopus, GmeL and Lath Buteo lagopus, Fleming. 
 
 Buse pattue, Temm Rough-legged Falcon, Pennant, 
 
 Montague, Wilson, Northern Zool. -c Rough-legged 
 Buzzard, Selby. 
 
 THE Rough-legged Buzzard is a much more 
 uncommon species than the next we shall de- 
 scribe, even in the countries more peculiarly 
 its own. Here it is only an occasional visitant, 
 appearing pretty frequently and with regularity 
 in the south of England ; but in the north and in 
 Scotland visiting the shores only at uncertain 
 periods, sometimes a scattered few only being seen, 
 at others they arrive in some profusion. Thus, 
 in 1815, Mr Selby mentions, "that Northumber- 
 land was visited by some of these birds, and 
 several opportunities were afforded me of inspect* 
 ing both living and dead specimens."* In 1823 
 several specimens were shot in East- Lothian, five 
 or six were brought into Edinburgh newly killed, 
 
 Brit. Ornith. i. p. 69. 
 
198 ROUGH-LEGuLD BUZZARD. 
 
 and two were procured for our own collection. 
 Its most regular appearance seems to be on the 
 Suffolk and Norfolk downs, where, in the country 
 adjacent to the coast, it is said to commit mucn 
 depredation in the rabbit warrens. One or two 
 straggling specimens have also been killed in 
 Ireland.* 
 
 We have little knowledge of its habits, except 
 what we can gather from others, but the accounts 
 of the authors who describe it correspond so 
 nearly, that we shall consider them correct. In 
 Europe, it seems sparingly distributed over the 
 northern parts, appearing occasionally in Britain, 
 and in Holland, and at this time principally in 
 winter or spring. On the American continent it 
 ranges over the northern division, migrating from 
 one district to another, and extending northward 
 to the fur countries, where it was found breeding 
 by the naturalists, who accompanied the overland 
 expedition. Their breeding places seem to be 
 lofty trees, the nest formed of sticks, with a slight 
 lining, the eggs white, spotted with reddish brown ;f 
 in disposition they are more shy and wary than 
 the Common Buzzard ; Richardson, speaking of 
 the bird in the fur countries, says, " Being very 
 shy, only one specimen was procured." and even 
 having discovered the eyrie, he was " fain to 
 
 * See Mag. of Zool. and Dot. II. p. 174. 
 t Teirnninck, Man. 
 
ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 199 
 
 relinquish the chase, after spending much time in 
 vain."* They delight in low situations for their 
 hunting districts, and prey on the various water- 
 fowl, small mammalia, frogs, and toads ; they 
 pounce on their prey, and do not pursue it, 
 though Audubon remarks, " It now and then 
 pursues a wounded one ;"f their flight is smooth 
 and slow, and from the structure of the feathers, 
 noiseless and buoyant, soaring in the breeding 
 season like the Common Buzzard. 
 
 Audubon, when describing this bird, has 
 advanced an opinion which it may be proper 
 shortly to notice. He considers the Rough-legged 
 Buzzard as the young of the Black Hawk, F. 
 niger, of Wilson. We have had no opportunity 
 of comparing the birds, but we feel inclined to 
 consider the opinion erroneous. We find frequent 
 records of the bird breeding in the supposed 
 immature plumage. We do not know F. niger as 
 a European bird ; and we suspect that the young 
 state of F. (Buteo) niger will very closely resem- 
 ble our European bird, and that it has thus, in 
 some instances, been confounded with it, which 
 an inspection of the figures of Wilson (pi. 53, 
 fig. 2) tends to confirm. The subject is never- 
 theless worthy of investigation. 
 
 The form of the Rough-legged Buzzard is more 
 
 * Faun. Bor. Am. ii. p. 53. 
 t Orn. Biog. ii. p. 378. 
 
200 ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD. 
 
 slender than that of the common bird, but the 
 wings, tail, and plumage, are more ample. The 
 head is in proportion small, and the bill weak. 
 One of our East-Lothian specimens agrees very 
 closely with that described by Mr Selby. The 
 head, neck, throat, and breast are yellowish white, 
 with broad triangular spots, and lengthened streaks 
 of brown on the latter ; the head and neck nar- 
 rowly streaked with markings of the same colour. 
 The belly in front of the thighs is deep umber 
 brown, forming a band across ; upper parts umber 
 brown ; the feathers edged with yellowish white, 
 tinted with reddish ; the quills darker in shade, 
 and fading towards the base to fine yellowish 
 white, marked with a few dark incomplete bars ; 
 the upper tail coverts and base of the tail white, 
 the remainder of the latter umber brown, banded 
 towards the tip with a deeper shade, and having 
 the whole tinted with reddish. The white colour 
 of the base of the tail seems a constant character 
 in all the specimens we have examined nearly 
 without variation ; the feathers of the thighs are 
 yellowish, streaked with umber brown, those 
 clothing the tarsi short and thick, of a paler tint, 
 and narrowly streaked with brown. 
 
 In another specimen, the colour of the upper 
 part is deeper and more solid, the streaking of the 
 breast and throat broader, and the tips of the tail 
 coverts barred with umber brown, on a pure white 
 
ROUGH-LEG a;r*> BUZZARD. 201 
 
 ground. Among others we have seen, there is a 
 slight difference in the intensity of the brown and 
 the broadness of the markings, and one or two 
 had the head nearly spotless, but there is not the 
 same variation which is so conspicuous in our 
 common species. 
 
202 
 
 THE COMMON BUZZARD. 
 
 Buteo vulgaris BEGHSTEIN. 
 
 PLATE XVIII. 
 
 Falco buteo, Linn. Buteo vulgaris, Btchstem. Fleming. 
 Common Buzzard of Brit. Ornithologists. 
 
 THE Common Buzzard is not an uncommon 
 species in Britain, frequenting the more cultivated 
 plains and woodlands of England, as well as the 
 very wildest parts of Scotland. In the former, it 
 is a bird of decidedly sylvan habits, delighting in 
 the more extensive chases and parks where there is 
 Abundance of aged timber, or in the tracts which 
 still bear the name of forests ; in the latter fre- 
 quenting the Alpine districts, and breeding on the 
 edges of the ravines with which they are so abun- 
 dantly intersected. In either case, the nest is 
 built of large sticks, with a scanty lining of wool 
 fT hair ; the site, an aged tree or some ledge of 
 rock; the eggs, three or four in number, of a 
 rounded form, bluish or greenish white, with 
 pale brown blotches and spots or streaks most 
 crowded at the thicker end. (See Plate XVI 
 fig. 1.) In its habits it is sluggish and inac- 
 

 
COMMON BUZZARD. 203 
 
 tive, or rather it appears to be so ; the flight 
 is heavy but buoyant, and when hunting it is per 
 formed in low sweeps, during which it survey 
 the ground, and pounces on any thing living 
 which may catch attention; it never attempts to 
 secure a prey on the wing by pursuit. The food 
 consists of almost every thing, the smaller mam- 
 malia, such as mice or moles, the young of game, 
 or moorland birds, frogs, toads, &c. It is often 
 described as watching from an eminence or 
 decayed tree, thence sweeping down on the prey 
 when discovered, and for this purpose remaining 
 for hours in one situation ; we have never seen it 
 so employed, and have always considered its long 
 stationary perches as the result of repletion, and 
 as a resting place after the exertion of hunting 
 and feeding, and we have known the same station 
 taken up day after day, and hours spent in a 
 motionless dose. When roused from this perch, 
 or during the season of incubation, the flight is \ 
 slow and majestic ; the birds rise in easy and / 
 graceful gyrations, often to an immense height, j 
 uttering occasionally their shrill and melancholy 
 whistle. At this time, to a spectator underneath, 
 and in particular lights, they appear of immensei 
 size; the motions of the tail when directing the 
 circles may be plainly perceived, as well as the 1 
 beautiful markings on it and on the wings, some- 
 times rendered very plain and distinct by the 
 
204 COMMON BUZZARD. 
 
 ] body being thrown upwards and the light falling 
 1 on the clear and silvery tints of the base of the 
 feathers. The Buzzard is a fine accompaniment 
 to the landscape, whether sylvan or wild and rocky. 
 In confinement, the Buzzard becomes very 
 familiar, is easily tamed, and as easily kept. Some 
 interesting anecdotes are related by Mr Thompson 
 in his " Irish Raptores." A male Buzzard, which 
 had been brought up from the nest, " when let 
 off in the morning, his favourite perch was upon 
 some stacks, where he remained patiently watching 
 for mice, which he has been seen to catch, but he 
 was not always successful, sometimes dashing his 
 talons into the straw and bringing them out 
 empty. He preferred mice to rats, though very 
 expert at killing both. He was quite a pet bird ; 
 one of his favourite tricks was to fly on his 
 master's feet and untie his shoe strings. But he 
 was likewise very bold, and taking a dislike to 
 a certain individual, flew at him whenever he 
 appeared, and endeavoured to strike him about 
 the head. This bird occasionally astonished 
 strangers, by smartly striking them on the hat, so 
 as to send it over their ears." * 
 
 In geographical range, the Buzzard is pretty 
 
 general over Europe, except in the low and marshy 
 
 '. districts, or the flat and sandy steppes. In Norta 
 
 Mag. of Zool. and Dot. vol. ii 
 
COMMON BUZZARD. 205 
 
 America it seems more sparingly distributed, and 
 chiefly in the northern parts ; it was met with by 
 Dr Richardson so high as the fifty-seventh degree.* 
 We possess a specimen from Madeira, for which 
 we are indebted to the attention of W. T. Car- 
 ruthers of Dormont, but we have been unable to 
 trace its range to any part of the African conti- 
 nent, of which the Madeiras may be considered 
 as partly the suburbs, and where, in this direc- 
 tion, we commence to see a mixture of African 
 and European forms. 
 
 The Common Buzzard varies considerably in 
 die colouring of the plumage, scarcely two speci- 
 mens being similar. The differences consist 
 chiefly in the intensity of the tint of the upper 
 parts, and in the presence of a greater or lesser 
 degree of marking below. The general colour 
 above is some shade of umber brown, varying to 
 hair brown, and brocoli brown ; the feathers 
 darker in the centre, often edged with a paler 
 tint, or with reddish yellow, and generally glossed 
 with a rich and shining purple, which is most 
 prevalent in dark coloured specimens. Wings at 
 the tips are deep umber brown, shading into pure 
 white at the base, where the feather becomes soft 
 and downy ; they are crossed with irregular 
 clouded dark bars, which decrease in breadth and 
 
 * Richardson Faun, Bor. Am. 
 
206 COMMON BUZZARD. 
 
 intensity towards the roots. The under parts are 
 sometimes pale yellowish white, streaked on the 
 throat and breast with shades of brovrn of different 
 intensity, and on the belly and vent crossed by 
 broad irregular bars ; sometimes they are of a 
 uniform tint nearly as dark as the upper sur- 
 face of the body and very little interrupted, and 
 sometimes a very dark and deep band tinted with 
 purple occupies the whole belly, while the other 
 parts are streaked and marked with a moderate 
 proportion of brown ; the plumes of the thighs 
 are generally dark, crossed with reddish ; the tail 
 is slightly rounded, the ground colour whitish, of 
 a chaste grey tinted with ochraceous, or of a 
 reddish yellow ; it is crossed by a broad bar of 
 umber brown near the tip, and by seven or eight 
 narrow ones of the same colour. In many of its 
 variations it is extremely beautiful. The length 
 of a male specimen before us is twenty inches, 
 that of a female nearly twenty-three. 
 
 PERNIS. Generic characters. Bill slender, 
 weak, bending gradually from the base to 
 the tip; edge of the mandible without a 
 tooth, and very slightly sinuated outwards 
 beneath the cere ; cere occupying nearly 
 half the length of the bill ; nostrils long, 
 narrow, very obliquely placed in the cere, 
 and opening forwards; lores and eyolidn 
 
COMMON BUZZARD. 
 
 207 
 
 thickly clothed with smali scale-like im- 
 bricated feathers ; wings ample, first quill 
 shortest, third and fourth longest, the notch- 
 ing of the four first not so marked as in 
 Buteo ; tail ample, rather long, the two 
 outer feathers slightly shorter than the others; 
 tarsi short, comparatively weak, feathered 
 for half their length, reticulated ; toes slen- 
 der, the outer nearly equal to the inner, the 
 anterior joints of all scutulated, claws weak, 
 slightly hooked, with the inner edge of the 
 middle one slightly dilated. 
 
 -- Inhabits Europe, India ; breeds on 
 trees ; food chiefly hymenopterous insects 
 and their larvae. 
 
THE HONEY BUZZARD. 
 
 Perm's aph-orus. CUVIF.R. 
 PLATE XIX. 
 
 Falco apivorus, Linn. Pernis apivorus, Cuvier, Reg. 
 
 Anim Buse Bondree, Temm Honey Buzzard, of 
 
 Brit. Ornithol 
 
 THIS very interesting bird is one of the rarest 
 British Falconidae, and is in much request by 
 collectors. We have only seen one newly taken 
 specimen, which was killed in some part of the 
 Lothians, but we are aware that seven or eight 
 birds of this species have been killed within the 
 last five years in the counties of Northumberland 
 and Durham ; three of which we saw soon after 
 they were skinned ; the whole were procured 
 during the autumnal months, or between August 
 and November, and were probably individually 
 driven out of the line of the equatorial migration 
 from the northern parts of continental Europe.* A 
 specimen was also lately killed near Drumlanrig, 
 which came into the possession of J. Bushnan, 
 
 * Illust. of Ornithol N. S. Plate 1. 
 
HONEY BUZZARD. 209 
 
 Esq. to whom we are indebted for a notice of it. 
 In other parts of England it seems also very rare, 
 in the north of Scotland it has not occurred at 
 all, and its range in Britain may be limited to the 
 south of the Forth. A single specimen only is 
 recorded to have been killed in Ireland in the 
 vicinity of Belfast.* On the Continent, it occurs 
 frequently in France and towards the south, but. 
 we do not trace it out of Europe, on the con- 
 fines of Asia. Its flight is light and buoyant, 
 and it is said to frequent watery places in search 
 of the Libelhdidce, but some original descrip- 
 tion of its habits is yet a much wanted deside- 
 ratum. Most authors record its preying on birds, 
 small animals, reptiles, &c. During the greater 
 part of the year we should doubt if much food 
 of this kind was looked after, and we would 
 rather conclude that it was only during the dead 
 of winter that the want of the Hymenoptera and 
 the nests of Bees and Wasps would drive it to 
 seek a stronger and less easily captured prey. As 
 an important addition to its habits, we transcribe 
 entire an account given by Mr Selby of the 
 destruction of a wasp's nest near Twizell by this 
 bird, which was read before the Berwickshire 
 Naturalist's Club, in 1836 : 
 
 < This individual was caught in a steel spring- 
 
 ' See Mag. of Nat. Hist. vi. p. 447. 
 
 
210 HONEY BUZZARD. 
 
 trap on the 28th of August last, under circum- 
 stances which, as illustrative of the peculiar 
 habits oF the species, I think it may not be 
 altogether uninteresting to detail. On the after- 
 noon of the 27th August, a large bird, apparently 
 of the hawk species, was observed by Mr B. 
 Atherton in the grounds at Tvvizell, to rise from 
 the ground beneath the decumbent branches of a 
 Platanus. Upon going to the spot, he observed 
 a number of wasps (Vespa vulgaris) flying 
 around, and part of a nest and broken comb 
 scratched out of a large hole at the root of the 
 free, in which it had been built. The fact was 
 mentioned on his return to the house, and from 
 the circumstances detailed, I conjectured it might 
 possibly be the work of a Honey Buzzard ; 
 inspection of the place an hour or two after 
 wards strengthened this supposition, as it wa 
 evident the aggressor had again been ther 
 having nearly torn the whole of the comb 
 pieces, and cleared it of the wasps, grubs, an 
 immature young with which it had been filled. 
 At the suggestion of Mrs Selby, two steel- traps 
 were set in the evening, close to the site of the 
 destroyed wasp-hive, and baited with two large 
 pieces of comb taken from another nest, des- 
 troyed a few evenings previously. Upon looking 
 at them early the following morning, they 
 appeared undisturbed, but during the course of 
 
 
HONEY BUZZARD. 211 
 
 the forenoon, the bird was again observed upon 
 a tree within view of the traps, and apparently 
 reconnoitering the place, and it then allowed of 
 a near approach. It would appear, that whatever 
 suspicions it might have entertained, it had not 
 long been able to resist the cravings of its appe- 
 tite, as it was found in the evening secured by its 
 leg in one of the traps. From its size, I con- 
 jectured it to be a male, and such it proved upon 
 dissection, and an adult bird, from the difference, 
 of colour, as contrasted with two birds of the 
 year in my possession, as well as from the pure 
 yellow of its cere and legs, those parts in the 
 young being of a greenish grey. It measured 
 twenty-one inches in extreme length, and three 
 feet seven inches in extent of wing ; the cere was 
 of a fine lemon yellow, the top of the bill bluish 
 black, the iris dark bluish grey ; the tarsi about 
 one and three-fourths inch in length, feathered 
 in part about half way down, the naked part and 
 feet yellow. The claws very little arched, but 
 sharp ; the tail long, fan-like, and extending 
 beyond the closed wings about two inches and a 
 half. The exterior plumage is of an uniform 
 dark or umber brown, including the close-set 
 feathers around the eyes, which, from their tiled 
 disposition and firmness, appear well adapted to 
 protect the face of the bird from the stings of 
 hymenopterous insects. The bottom or lower 
 
212 HONEY BUZZARD. 
 
 part of the plumage is white, and a thick clothing 
 of down closely invests the whole of the body. 
 The tail hair brown, with bars of a deeper 
 colour. The skin I found to be tough and 
 thick. Upon opening the body, the craw and 
 stomach were found filled with wasps, as well 
 full grown as in the nymph and grub state ; no 
 remains or feathers of birds, or bones and fur of 
 mammalia, were to be seen, so that, at this season 
 at least, its food would appear to consist entirely 
 of insects, and particularly the Hymenoptera and 
 their larvae. The neck and gently curved bill, 
 as well as the straight claws of this bird, shew its 
 departure from the typical FalcOnidae, and its 
 decreased predatorial habits. It was in tolerable 
 condition, though not in the fat state of the 
 individual killed at Thrunton, and described by 
 the honourable Mr Liddell in the Transactions 
 of the Northumberland Natural History Society. 
 While alive, it shewed no irascibility of disposi- 
 tion, and did not attempt to strike with its 
 talons, and made no outcry. It was infested 
 with that unpleasant looking parasite, Hippomya 
 viridis, several specimens of which were secured/* 
 In the species before alluded to as being killed 
 iear Belfast, " The bill and forehead were 
 covered with cow dung in such a manner as to 
 lead them to suppose the bird had in that sub- 
 stance been scratching for insects. On examina- 
 
HONEY BUZZARD. 213 
 
 tion of the stomach, which was quite full, it was 
 found to contain a few of the larvae, and some 
 fragments of coleopterous insects ; several whitish 
 coloured hairy caterpillars ; the pupa of a butter- 
 fly, and also of the six-spot burnet moth, Zyycena 
 filipendul<B> together with some pieces of grass 
 which, it is presumed, were taken in with this 
 last named insect, it being on the stalks of grass 
 that the pupae of this species of Zygcena are 
 chiefly found."* 
 
 All authors agree in making the Honey Buz- 
 zard breed on trees ; the number of eggs three or 
 four, small in proportion, and of a yellowish 
 white, blotched and spotted with brown. Mr 
 Gould says, " several instances of its breeding in 
 this country have come to our knowledge," and 
 again, it constructs a nest of twigs lined with wool 
 and other soft materials. The nest mentioned 
 by White was built on a tall slender beech; it 
 was large and shallow, composed of twigs, and 
 lined with dead beechen leaves. Willoughby says, 
 speaking of its nest, " We saw one that made use 
 of an old Kite's nest to breed in, and that it fed 
 its young with the nympha of wasps, for, in the 
 nest, we found the combs of wasps' nests, and in 
 the stomachs of the young, the limbs and frag- 
 ments of wasp maggots. In the nest there were 
 
 * Mag. of Nat. Hist. vi. p. 447. 
 
214 HONEY BUZZARD. 
 
 only two young ones, covered with a white 
 down, spotted with black. Their crops were 
 large, in which were lizards, frogs, &c."* The 
 same ornithologist also mentions that he found 
 '' a huge number of green caterpillars, of that 
 sort called Geometra, in the stomach and guts of 
 one which he dissected." Mr White states that 
 the " craw of the female shot in Selborne-hanger, 
 contained the limbs of frogs, and many grey 
 snails without shells." f 
 
 The form of this bird is rather graceful ; the 
 head small and the bill weak, are evidently not 
 intended for tearing a strong prey. Its structure, 
 however, seems finely adapted for its peculiar 
 mode of attack ; and the scaly formed feathers 
 covering the eyelids, and every exposed part of 
 the face, protect them from the stings of the 
 colonies it preys upon. From the account given 
 us by Mr Selby, the feet also appear to be 
 capable of being well employed in scraping, 
 while Willoughby remarks that " this bird runs 
 very swiftly like a hen." 
 
 A specimen procured in France is in length 
 about twenty inches. The crown, head, and 
 cheeks, clothed with imbricated feathers, smaller 
 and more closely arranged on the face. These 
 are of an ash grey, gradually shading into the 
 
 * Willoughby 's Ornithology, p. 72. 
 t Selborne, 4to edit. p. 109. 
 
HONEY BUZZARD. 215 
 
 pale umber brown, which prevails over all the 
 upper parts. Quills, with an inch and a half at 
 the tip, very deep umber brown ; towards the 
 base they become nearly white on the insides, 
 and are crossed with irregular dark bars or 
 blotches ; the third quill is longest, the next nearly 
 equal, and the sinuation of the inner webs of the 
 four first hardly so deep as in Buteo. Secon- 
 daries, also with the tips dark umber brown, which 
 forms a bar across the wing, a peculiarity of mark- 
 ing also seen in the other known species ofPernis. 
 The tail is rather long, of a paler tint than the . 
 back ; there is one broad dark band at the tip, a 
 second more than half way up, and a third cross- 
 ing at the tips of the upper coverts ; the inter- 
 vening space is clouded with narrow indistinctly 
 clouded bars. The throat is pure white, the 
 shafts of the feathers of the chin only -dark ; rest 
 of the under parts pure white, having the tips of 
 the feathers marked with a triangular bar of umber 
 brown, darkest along the shafts ; insides of the 
 thighs pure white; tarsi feathered nearly half 
 way down. 
 
 An adult male killed at Twizell in September, 
 1835, is in length twenty-one inches and a half. 
 Bill bluish black ; cere lemon yellow ; tarsi and 
 feet of a deeper tint of the same colour ; plumage 
 entirely very deep clove brown; scaly feathers 
 of the lore tinted with grey, and with purplish 
 
216 HONEY BUZZARD. 
 
 reflections on the wings and back, the feathers 
 white at the base ; tail with three indistinct paler 
 bars, and tipped with yellowish white ; the basal 
 half of the inner webs of the quills white, clouded 
 with pale clove brown in the form of bars. In 
 the collection of P. J. Selby. 
 
 Two other specimens, killed previously, have the 
 head, neck, and under parts white, dashed with 
 pale clove brown ; the back, wings, and tail pale 
 clove brown, upon the shoulders having the 
 feathers tipped with yellowish white ; the cere 
 and legs greenish yellow. In the collection of P. 
 J. Selby.* 
 
 In this genus, and some allied ones, the young 
 are generally clothed in a paler plumage. This is 
 confirmed in the two specimens just mentioned, by 
 the greenish yellow of the cere and legs, which 
 do not seem to attain their brilliancy until after 
 maturity ; and in one foreign species we have 
 repeatedly seen the same distribution of colour. 
 
 MILVUS. Generic characters. Bill of mode- 
 rate strength, cutting margin of the mandible 
 with a slight obtuse lobe, cere short, nostrils 
 placed rather obliquely, eliptical ; wings long, 
 fourth quill longest, the first five notched in 
 the inner webs ; tail long, more or less forked ; 
 
 * Represented Plate I. of Ornithological Illustrations, 
 new series. 
 
217 
 
 tarsi short, plumed in front below the joint ; 
 toes rather short, claws long, strong and 
 curved, inner edge of the middle one dilated. 
 
 Note. Habits arboreal. 
 
THE KITE. 
 
 Milvus regalis. BRISSON. 
 PLATE XX. 
 
 Falco milvus, Linn. Milvus regalis, Briss. Milvus 
 ictinus, Saviyny. Milvus vulgaris, Flem. Le milan 
 royal, Buff. Temm. Kite of British ornithologists. 
 provincially, Glead, forktailed, fishtailed glead. 
 
 THIS very graceful bird is distributed locally 
 from one end of our island to the other. In the 
 New Forest, and many of the woodland districts 
 of England, it is plentiful, particularly in the 
 eastern counties ; in Yorkshire we have also 
 frequently seen it, but north of this it becomes 
 more rare, except in the country of the lakes, 
 where some pairs breed. In the south of Scot- 
 land it is nearly unknown, but in many parts 
 north of the Forth it is extremely common, and 
 no where more so than in the Western Highlands. 
 It is every where a fine accessary to the land- 
 scape, " one of the most harmonious appendages 
 of the forest." We have often admired its grace- 
 ful flight and sailing gyrations, heightening the 
 effect of some dark and craggy forest scene, and 
 
 

 
 
 
 
THE KITE. 219 
 
 the quiet is broken by its peculiarly shrill 
 whistle or squeeL* When intruding on the 
 eyrey, both sexes soar in a circling manner, 
 making frequent dashes to the vicinity of the 
 aggressor, uttering their cries with vehemence, 
 shriller and more peculiarly toned. The nest is 
 often placed only about half way up the tree, 
 close to the stem, a slight and flat fabric. The 
 eggs, two or three in number, are less than those 
 of the common buzzard, and are white, specklet 
 with brown. (See Plate XVI. fig. 1.) 
 
 The food of the Kite is various ; young 
 game, the produce of the farm-yard, and rep- 
 tiles, particularly the common lizard which is 
 so abundant on the moors in summer, furnish 
 ample food. Where there is a herring fishery 
 near, the refuse, which is daily left on the 
 beach is eaten. We have seen this several years 
 since at Inverary. W'hen the curers retired to 
 their meals, six or seven of these birds would 
 frequently sail down from the neighbouring wood, 
 and uttering their shrill squeel, carry off the 
 cleanings. We are aware of no part where these 
 birds are more abundant than on both sides of 
 Loch Fine ; and during the season of the fishery, 
 they may have been attracted to the vicinity of the 
 stations. We have no authenticated instance of 
 
 * " Whew," as the shepherds and keepers call it. 
 
220 SPIZ^ETUS. 
 
 the Kite being a native of Ireland, and although, 
 as Mr Thompson remarks, the name of " Kite," 
 occurs in the statistical surveys, &c. the provin- 
 cial and more general application of the word to 
 the Buzzard, and some of the larger Raptores, 
 renders it very doubtful that the application was 
 ever correctly made. Rewards were of old 
 offered for the destructon of the " Kite" as a bird 
 of prey, but the doubt here continues the same.* 
 On the continent of Europe it seems equally but 
 as locally distributed. 
 
 We have now to notice another form, which, 
 though it possesses a very dubious claim to a 
 place in our Fauna, it would scarcely be proper 
 to omit, so long as the facts of its capture remain 
 uncontradicted, and also as it illustrates that divi- 
 sion of the birds of prey which Mr Svvainson 
 considers to be the Rasorial. The genus Spizaetus 
 of Vieillot contains birds of a very noble aspect, 
 from their compact, yet somewhat elegant form, 
 and from the conspicuous crest with which the 
 head of most of them is adorned. 
 
 SPIZ^TUS. Generic characters. Bill strong, 
 with a lobe or festoon in the centre of the 
 edge of the mandible ; orbits and lores 
 
 * See 1 1 Anne, ch. 7, quoted in Mag. of Zool. and 
 Bot. II. p. 172. 
 
221 
 
 covered with down and hair-like feathers ; 
 wings rather short, fifth quill longest, sixth 
 and fourth equal, inner webs of the five or 
 six first notched ; tarsi rather long, slender, 
 thickly plumed to the toes ; toes rather 
 weak, claws long. 
 

 THE CRESTED SPIZ^JTUS. 
 
 Spizaetus cristatellus JARD. AND SELBY. 
 
 PLATE XXI. 
 
 Spizaete cristatelle, Temminck, pi. col. 282 Spizaetus 
 
 cristatellus, Illustrations of Gmiih. by Sir W. Jar dine 
 and Mr Selby, pi. 66. 
 
 Spizaetus cristatellus was figured in the " Orni- 
 thological Illustrations,"* from a specimen sup- 
 posed to be captured on the British shores, and 
 we now copy what we then learned regarding it. 
 The specimen in question was sent to Mr Selby, 
 to determine the species, by the Honourable 
 H. T. Liddell, of Eslington House, with the 
 following memorandum: " In the autumn of 
 1828, Mr R. Liddell was shewn this bird by 
 Mr Wingate, animal preserver at Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne, who informed him that he received the 
 skin a short time previous, in a fresh state, from 
 
 * Plate LXVI. 
 
SPIZAETUS 
 
CRESTED SPIZ^ETUS. 223 
 
 Aberdeen, and that the account he got with it 
 stated, that it had been killed upon the coast by 
 the captain of a vessel about to enter that port." 
 The bird proved to be an adult species of Tem- 
 minck's Crested Spizaetus, and the description 
 taken at the time was, " The bill is black, the 
 cere of a yellowish green colour, the naked space 
 between the bill and the eyes greenish black ; the 
 forehead, throat, sides of the neck, and whole of 
 the under parts, pure white ; the legs are long, 
 and the tarsi thickly clothed with white feathers ; 
 the crown of the head and nape, yellowish brown, 
 mixed with amber brown ; from the occiput springs 
 six or eight elongated dark brown feathers, form- 
 ing a pendent crest ; the whole of the upper parts 
 of the body are of a dark umber brown, each 
 feather with a paler margin ; the ridge of the 
 wings is white ; the tail long, of a deep clove 
 brown colour, with seven narrow black bars, the 
 tip white ; the feet are yellow, the toes reticu- 
 lated as far as the last phalange, and are armed 
 with powerful sharp and crooked claws, particu- 
 larly those of the interior and hind toes ; length, 
 about twenty inches ; the wings, when closed, 
 appear to reach about one-half the length of the 
 tail ; the first quill is narrow and short, the fourth 
 and fifth the largest in the wing." 
 
 This form, so far as we are aware, is Asiatic 
 and South American. The bird now described is 
 
224 
 
 CRESTED SP1ZJETUS. 
 
 a native of Asia and Ceylon, and seems extremely 
 rare. 
 
 We now pass to the more common genus Cir- 
 cus, or Harriers. This is the form which, in their 
 own circle, is thought to represent the nocturnal 
 birds of prey. They are of a light and buoyant 
 form, the body and members lengthened, in some 
 species almost weak. The feet and tail bearing 
 considerable resemblance to those parts in the 
 
CIRCUS. 225 
 
 more slender accipitrine birds, and the bill shew- 
 ing a marked attenuation or weakness towards 
 the tip ; but the circumstance of a ruff-like disk 
 surrounding the face, has called the attention of 
 every observer, and with the largely developed 
 ears, at once points to the owls as close allies. 
 
 The colours and changes of plumage in all the 
 species are very similar ; both sexes are clothed 
 in the same livery until after the second moult, 
 and are so much alike as hardly to be distin- 
 guished except in size. In the males, the change 
 is to shades of grey ; in the females, to a lighter 
 tint of the reddish or darker browns which appear 
 to be the prevalent colours of the whole. The 
 upper tail coverts are commonly lighter, and shew 
 a very striking bar or band during flight. The 
 eggs of the Harriers are pure white, or greenish 
 whifcj generally unspotted. (See Plate XXV. 
 figs. 1, 2.) 
 
 CIRCUS. Generic characters. Bill bending 
 from the base, compressed, weak, tip attenu- 
 ated, edges of the mandible with a slight 
 lobe ; nostrils large, nearly oval, and almost 
 concealed by the hairs at the base of the 
 bill ; face, with a facial ruff, the feathers 
 of u approaching in structure to those of 
 the owls ; ears large ; wings long, fourth 
 quill slightly exceeding the third in length, 
 
226 
 
 CIRCUS. 
 
 the four first slightly notched ; tail lengthened, 
 slightly rounded ; tarsi long, the feet slender ; 
 claws gently curved, weak, but sharp. 
 
 Note. Cosmopolite ; inhabits the vicinity of 
 muir or waste lands, low or marshy.' 
 
 & Common Harrier. 
 
 2 Marsh Harrier. 
 
COMMON HARRIET 
 
 Circus cyaneus FLEMING. 
 
 PLATE XXII. 
 
 Male Falco cyaneus, Linn. Circus cyaneus, Flem* Pr. 
 Anim. Selby, fyc. Hen Harrier of Brit. Ornithnl. 
 
 Female Falco pygargus, Linn Ringtail of British 
 
 Ornithologists. 
 
 THE identity of the If en Harrier and Ringtail^ 
 as the different sexes of this species, has been long 
 since proved ; but although the fact was known 
 to Willoughby, who describes the latter as " the 
 Ringtail, the male whereof is called the Hen 
 Harrier," * the ornithologists of the last and 
 beginning of the present century, entered into 
 many discussions regarding it, and some interest- 
 ing anecdotes of their habits will be found de- 
 tailed by Montague j and Dr Heysham.J 
 
 The Common Harrier is one of the most 
 familiar as well as most typical species of this 
 genus, formerly abundant in all the more exten- 
 sive wastes, commons, or downs of England ; 
 
 * Willoughby Ornithologica, p. 72. 
 
 t Dictionary and Linnaean Transactions. 
 
 t In Hutchinson's History of Cumberland. 
 
228 COMMON HARRIER. 
 
 frequent in the greater part of Scotland, hunting 
 the lower lands in the winter, and the subalpine 
 ranges during the season of incubation ; and of 
 general distribution in Ireland, where it affects 
 similar localities. 
 
 Among our latest ornithological writers, there 
 seems a difference of opinion as to the range of 
 the Common Harrier, and whether the birds 
 procured from the American continent are the 
 same. 
 
 The Prince of Musignano considers the birds 
 identical ; while Mr Swainson and Dr Richardson 
 describe species with a query, and under the title 
 of C. Americanus. I have generally observed the 
 American birds to be larger than those of this 
 country, and having the tarsi stronger and pro- 
 portionally longer ; and it is probable that America 
 may possess a bird distinct from the true European 
 Harrier ; it may also be remarked that, in the 
 figure of the American bird given in the Northern 
 Zoology, the lower parts and insides of the wings 
 are represented spotted, whereas the birds of 
 Britain on the same parts are pure and immacu- 
 late ; a similar arrangement of colouring is repre- 
 sented in the figure given by the Prince of 
 Musignano. 
 
 In the third volume of our edition of Wilson's 
 North American Ornithology,* we gave an account 
 
 * Wilson's N. A. Ornithol. Edited by Sir W. Jardinc. 
 I!I. p. 392. 
 
COMMON HARRIER. 229 
 
 of the manners of this bird, which later observa- 
 tions have confirmed, and we now copy this, 
 rather than attempt to rewrite the substance in 
 other words. " The habits of the British Harrier 
 differ considerably according to the district they 
 inhabit. In a country possessing a considerable 
 proportion of plain and mountain, where I have 
 had the best opportunities of observing them, 
 they always retire at the commencement of the 
 breeding season to the wildest hills, and during 
 this time not one individual will be found in the 
 low country. For several days previous to com- 
 mencing their nest, the male and female are seen 
 soaring about, as if in search of or examining a 
 proper situation, are very noisy, and sport with 
 and cuff each other in the air. When the place 
 is fixed, and the nest completed, the female is left 
 alone, and when hatching, will not suffer the 
 male to visit the nest ; but, on his approach, 
 rises, and screaming, drives him to a distance. 
 The nest is made very frequently in a heath bush, 
 by the edge of some ravine, and is composed 
 of sticks, with a very slender lining. It is some- 
 times also formed in one of those places called 
 scars, or where there has been a rush on the side 
 of a steep hill after a mountain thunder shower ; 
 here little or no nest is made, and the eggs are ] 
 merely laid on the bare earth, which has been 
 scraped hollow. The young are well supplied 
 with food, we believe by both parents ; and 
 
230 COMMON HARRIER. 
 
 we have found in and near the nest, the Common 
 Lizard, (L. agilis,) stone chats, and young 
 grouse. 
 
 " When the young are perfectly grown, they, 
 with the old birds, leave the high country, and 
 return to their old haunts, hunting with regularity 
 the fields of grain, and now committing great 
 havock among the young game. At night they 
 seem to have general roosting places, either 
 among whins or among long heath, and always 
 on some open spot upon the ground. On a moor 
 of considerable extent, I have seen seven in the 
 space of one acre. They began to approach the 
 sleeping ground about sunset, arid before going 
 to the roosting place, hunted the whole moor, 
 often three or four in view at a time, crossing 
 each other, and gliding along in the same manner 
 with that of the C. Americanus, described by Dr 
 Richardson. Half an hour maybe spent in this way. 
 When they approach the roosting place, they skim 
 three or four times over it, to see that there is no 
 interruption, and then at once drop into the spot. 
 These places are easily found during the day, 
 and the birds may be caught by placing a com- 
 mon rat trap, or they may be shot in a moon- 
 light night. In both ways we have procured 
 many specimens. 
 
 " When kept in confinement, they generally 
 roosted on the ground in a corner of the cage, 
 three or four huddled together ; once or twice 
 
COMMON HARRIER. 231 
 
 we have found them perching, but even during 
 the day they rested mostly on the ground, and 
 only when alarmed rose to the cross bars. We 
 have never seen them perch in a wild state." 
 
 On the English commons or wastes, where 
 these birds also breed, the nest is placed in a 
 situation as near as the locality will admit, to 
 that just described. The cover there is generally 
 furze or whin instead of heath ; and thus Mon- 
 tague describes the nest " composed of sticks 
 rudely put together, was nearly flat, and placed 
 on some fallen branches of furze, that supported it 
 just above the ground/'* Of the nest of the Ame- 
 rican bird, Dr Richardson writes, " The nests, 
 we observed, were built on the ground by the 
 sides of small lakes, of moss, grass, feathers, and 
 hair, and contained from three to five eggs, 
 having a bluish white colour, without spots."f 
 We have never seen more than the above number 
 of eggs ; but Dr Heysham records having seen 
 six in one nest, or seven in another.^ Temminck 
 plc^ces this species in his list of European birds 
 which he has received from Japan. 
 
 The adult male has the upper parts bluish grey, 
 passing into blackish grey on the centre of the 
 back, and to pearl grey on the throat and breast ; 
 quills black, with pale tips ; tail, pale blackish 
 
 * Diet. Supp. t Northern Zoology, II. 55. 
 t Hutchinson's Cumberland. 
 
232 COMMON HARRIER. 
 
 grey, the inner webs of all the feathers except 
 three in the middle, paler, changing to white on 
 the outermost pair, and clouded with obscure bands 
 of blackish grey, but with no trace of brown or 
 reddish. The upper tail coverts, belly, vent, 
 thighs, inner wing coverts, and axillaries, pure and 
 unspotted white ; the shafts of the feathers on the 
 flanks sometimes black, but no spotting or reddish 
 marking as exhibited in the C. Americanus of the 
 Northern Zoology ; legs and irides gamboge 
 yellow ; length of a specimen before us in full 
 plumage, scarcely exceeds sixteen inches ; length 
 of the wing from shoulder to extremity of third 
 quill, about twelve and a half inches. 
 
 The female varies more than the male in 
 the tints and markings of her plumage ; the 
 ruff is more conspicuously marked ; more so, 
 indeed, than in any other of our British Harriers. 
 The auricular feathers are long, of the loose and 
 hairy texture of these forming the disk of the face 
 of the owls. The general tint of the upper parts 
 is umber brown, of a paler or darker shade, 
 glossed with purple, and having the edges of the 
 feathers marked more or less . with reddish or 
 ochraceous. The feathers of the ruff are yellowish 
 or reddish white, bending inwards, not so compact 
 in texture as those of the owls, and marked along 
 the shaft with a streak of deep umber brown, 
 varying in breadth. The quills are umber brown, 
 
COMMON HARRIER. 233 
 
 often grey on their outer webs, pale coloured on 
 the lower surface, and distinctly barred with 
 brown. The rump is pure white, conspicuously 
 seen during flight, and giving rise to the well- 
 known name of Ringtail. The tail is ample, pale 
 at the tip, and barred alternately with umber 
 brown, and reddish or yellowish brown, the 
 intensity of the shades lessening on the outer 
 feathers, and on the inside webs. The under 
 parts in one specimen before me are ochraceous, 
 darker and more rufous on the breast, and having 
 the centre of each feather broadly streaked with 
 reddish umber brown, except on the thighs and 
 tail coverts, which are paler and spotless. In 
 another, on a paler ground the dark brown streaks 
 are much broader, occupying all the feather 
 except the margin, while the feathers of the 
 thighs are thickly marked with irregular bars of 
 pale reddish brown, a similar marking spreading 
 also over the tail coverts. The length of theae 
 females is from eighteen to twenty inches. 
 
ASH-COLOURED HARRIER, 
 
 Circus cineraceus. SELBY. 
 PLATE XXIII. 
 
 Ash-coloured Falcon, Falco cineraceus, Mont. Trans. 
 
 Linn. Soc. ix. p. 188. Ornith. Diet Ash-coloured 
 
 Harrier, Circus cineraceus, Selby, Sfc. 
 
 WE are indebted to the assiduity of the late 
 Colonel Montague for the discovery of this species 
 to the British Fauna. Closely allied to the pre- 
 ceding, it had remained confounded with it, and 
 although the distinctions are strongly marked, 
 unless to an observer such as we have mentioned, 
 they would be very easily overlooked. It is a 
 species of much greater rarity than the Common 
 Harrier, and, so far as we know, has not yet 
 occurred in Scotland. Neither has it yet been 
 ascertained to be a native of Ireland. Mr Selby 
 mentions its occurrence on the Northumbrian 
 muirs, where it breeds, but this is the most 
 northern locality which we have seen noticed. 
 Montague records its being taken and breeding 
 in Devonshire, and we have occasional mention 
 of its occurrence in some other of the English 
 Bounties, particularly in the south, though its 
 
ASH-COLOURED HARRIER. 235 
 
 abundance is not nearly to be compared with that 
 of its nearly allied congener; and Mr Gould states 
 that it is common in the fens of Cambridgeshire 
 and Lincolnshire.* The habits of the two birds, 
 so far as we know, are very similar, the same 
 gliding buoyant flight, and low manner of hunting 
 along the ground, surveying the cover, and occa- 
 sionally hovering to examine some likely spot. 
 The nest is also similar. That discovered by 
 Mr Tucker was made on the ground among 
 furze. Temminck remarks, that it breeds in the 
 vicinity of marshes and lakes abounding with 
 reeds ; and more lately, in his Supplement, that it 
 is very common in the marshes of Holland, much 
 more so than the Common Harrier. European 
 specimens of the male and female in our posses- 
 sions may be thus described : 
 
 The upper parts, throat, and breast of the male, 
 dark blackish grey, darkest on the back and shoul- 
 ders ; first six quills nearly black, greyish at the 
 tips, the seventh lighter in tint, and the others fol- 
 lowing it becoming paler still ; secondaries of a 
 pale blackish grey, marked across the centre with 
 a clouded black bar ; tail lengthened, pale grey, 
 centre feathers uniform in tint, the others grey 
 on the outer webs, and marked with clouded bars 
 across the inner, nearly black on the first pair, 
 
 * Birds of Europe. 
 
235 ASH-COLOURED HARRIER. 
 
 reddish on the second, which colour predominates 
 towards the outside, and on the outer pair the 
 bars are nearly pale yellowish orange ; the belly, 
 vent, under tail, and wing coverts are pure white, 
 the grey of the breast being gradually blended into 
 the white of the remaining lower parts ; the 
 feathers on the body and thighs of these parts are 
 boldly marked with reddish brown along the 
 shafts, diverging in the centre as an unfinished 
 bar, while the axillary plumes are crossed with 
 broad bars of the same colour ; these markings 
 vary in distinctness and intensity, and in some 
 specimens contrast beautifully with their pure 
 white ground colour ; the bill is bluish black ; the 
 legs yellow, stronger and scarcely so long as in the 
 Common Harrier ; length is sixteen and a half 
 inches. 
 
 The chief distinctions between this bird and the 
 male Common Harrier are its small size, the much 
 greater length of the wings, which exceed that of 
 the tail, and in the specimen before us, from the 
 shoulder to the extremity of the third quill mea- 
 sures fourteen inches ; and in the lower parts 
 being streaked and barred with reddish brown. 
 
 The description of the female Harrier, were 
 the dimensions and proportions similar, might 
 serve also for this bird. Our specimen is in length 
 about eighteen and a quarter inches ; the wing 
 from the shoulder to the extremity of the third 
 
ASH-COLOUhK.") HARRIER. 237 
 
 quill about fourteen inches and three quarters. 
 The upper parts are the same tint of umber brown 
 seen in the Ringtail, the feathers on the crown 
 edged with reddish, on the nape and scapulars 
 with yellowish white; on the tail, there is a greater 
 preponderance of red on the bars of the outer 
 feathers, and the lower parts from the breast 
 downwards ; the thighs, insides of the wings and 
 axillaries, are streaked and barred with a reddish 
 brown nearly as clear as that of the male, but ap- 
 pearing more dull in appearance from the less pare 
 tint of the ground colour. The intensity of the 
 colouring in these birds varies, some are like 
 the one now described, while others have the 
 tint of the upper parts very dark, glossed with 
 purple, and nearly without interruption from 
 pale edges to the feathers. The under parts also 
 vary much, for in the specimen of the female 
 described by Mr Selby, the lower parts are said 
 to be " orange brown, without spot or streak" 
 This is a character very constant in the African 
 birds known under the name of 0. ranivorus, 
 where the reddish tint also extends to the gene- 
 rally conspicuous tail coverts. 
 
 
MARSH HARRIER. 
 
 Circus rufus. BRISSON. 
 PLATE XXIV. 
 
 Falco seruginosus, Linn. Circus rufus, Brisson. Buz- 
 zard harpaye ou de marais, Temm Moor Buzzard of 
 British ornithologists Marsh Harrier, Selby. 
 
 THIS species, while it maintains the general 
 form and contour of the Harriers, exhibits 
 stronger proportions in every way. It is, at the 
 same time, very similar in its manners, flight, and 
 mode of hunting ; delights in low and marshy 
 grounds, preys on aquatic animals and birds, 
 reptiles, water-rats, wild-ducks, and frogs. It 
 glides over the cover or tall reeds, close to their 
 tops, making a dart when any quarry is raised, 
 but never pursues it ; occasionally settles either 
 to re*t or seize some prey ; and we have several 
 times got within shot by approaching cautiously 
 when it had alighted. They frequent the same 
 beat for many days together, crossing it nearly 
 at the same hours, and hunting the same places 
 in their turn. The nest we have never seen, but 
 it is recorded upon good authority to be placed 
 
if HARRIER 
 
MARSH HARRIER. 239 
 
 on some tuft of grass, or a slight eminence in the 
 vicinity of the marsh. The eggs are pure white, 
 and larger than those of the preceding birds. (See 
 Plate XXV. fig. 1.) 
 
 The Marsh Harrier appears to be common in 
 many parts of England, but is rare generally in 
 Scotland, the western parts being too precipitous 
 for its habits. It would also seem to be partially 
 migratory, for it appears much more numerously 
 in one season than in another ; one year we 
 know of seven or eight specimens being killed 
 upon the Border, while, for the last ten years, it 
 has been comparatively rare. The general cha- 
 racter of Ireland is also unfavourable for the 
 abundance of this species. It occurs, however, 
 m various localities, breeds on the mountains of 
 Monaghon, and of Ballynascreen, Londonderry, 
 but is rare in Donegal.* On the Continent it is 
 found in similar localities, is very rare in Alpine 
 or precipitous districts, and is extremely common 
 in the low lying countries. In Holland, for 
 instance, it is abundant, five or six being often 
 seen at a time sailing over the reedy margins of 
 the lakes or rivers, and one or two are always 
 appearing as some other creek or bay opens to 
 the view 
 
 * W. Thompson, Mag. of Zool. and Bot. fi. p. 175. 
 We do not know the character of these Irish mountains, 
 but we have not known the bird to breed in Alpine 
 regions. 
 
240 MARSH HARRIER. 
 
 There is often a considerable variation in the 
 tints of this species, and of the predominance or 
 want of white on the head and throat. In one 
 specimen before me the whole plumage, with the 
 exception of the forehead, hindhead, throat, and 
 sides of the mouth, with the tips of the quills, is 
 very deep umber brown, not distinguished by 
 any lighter shade underneath. The parts ex- 
 cepted are yellowish white. In another specimen 
 the plumage is of a pale reddish umber brown, 
 having the upper tail covert, and base of the 
 outer tail feathers, pale yellowish red ; the former 
 shewing a bar like that seen on the Ringtail. The 
 quills are not tipped with white, and the white of 
 the hindhead is very pure, extended above each 
 eye. In the young birds the colours are gene- 
 rally more uniform, and there is no yellowish 
 white about the head : on what has been con- 
 sidered the adult birds, again, the pale colour 
 sometimes extends over the whole head, purest 
 on the occiput, and there is often a patch of the 
 same colour on the scapulars. The most common 
 state of the bird, however, is that first described, 
 umber brown, with the head and throat white, the 
 centre of the crown more or less spotted with 
 crown. Mr Selby mentions a variety which he 
 Kept in confinement, having the throat, bastard 
 wing, four quill feathers, and outer tail feathers, 
 pure white. The bill is bluish black ; cere, legs, 
 
MARSH HARRiElt. 241 
 
 and feet yellow ; the claws sharp, but not strong 
 in proportion to the size of the bird, and not much 
 curved, (see fig. 2. of woodcut, p. 226.) A female 
 measured about twenty-three inches and a half 
 a male scarcely twenty inches. The usual length 
 of the first is from twenty-two to twenty-four 
 inches, of the latter from nineteen to twenty. 
 
 Mr Gould, in his beautiful " Birds of Europe," 
 has figured a bird as the adult state of the Marsh 
 Harrier, which, if he is .correct, shews a curious 
 change of plumage. He is of opinion that all the 
 specimens generally killed in this country are 
 young birds, that the species is very long in 
 attaining maturity, and that it breeds while in 
 the young state of plumage. The bird, which he 
 has figured as in perfect livery, has the head, 
 neck, and breast pale, with white markings to 
 the feathers ; the shoulders, secondaries, and tail, 
 of the delicate pale grey common to the male of 
 the Hen Harrier and Ash-coloured Harrier, 
 while the under parts, particularly the lower, are 
 tinted more with rufous. Mr Gould mentions 
 having received it from Himmalaya. 
 
242 
 
 STRIGIDM, OR OWLS. 
 
 WE now enter among what are familiarly known 
 as the nocturnal birds of prey, and are often looked 
 upon with superstition, from invading the silence 
 of the night with their grotesque appearance, or 
 their loud and peculiarly melancholy cries or hoot- 
 ings. The Strigidce, or Owls, as a family, are com- 
 paratively very little known, and, consequently, 
 the typical forms for an arrangement have been 
 only artificially pointed out. In Great Britain, 
 the members of it are limited in numbers, amount- 
 ing to six or seven species, and some of these 
 are of extreme rarity, and only partial or periodi- 
 cal visiters. They fill, during the night, the same 
 office? wnich the bolder hunting Falcons perform 
 ir tne open day, and serve to keep in check the 
 overrunning of those small mammalia to which 
 Nature has also allotted a " nightly season.** For 
 this rurt)ose their various organs are beautifully 
 suited ; their vision is acute, though not adapted 
 for the glare of noon -day ; their ears are contrived 
 to catch sound in the broadest way, and possess a 
 delicate perception ; while their plumage is of the 
 softest texture, " falling gently on the air." The 
 wings are constructed for a light, buoyant, and 
 noiseless flight ; for, independent of soft and downy 
 
OWLS. 243 
 
 feathers, they have the webs with plumules dis- 
 united at the tips, and either remarkably pliable, or 
 separated like the teeth of a saw, allowing a free 
 passage to the air, or possessing a pliability to yield 
 to its pressure ; yet the proportion of the quills 
 is similar to that belonging to birds endowed with 
 a powerful flight, and we see its use in the easy 
 light skimming or sailing near the surface of the 
 ground or cover, which is capable of being for a 
 long time sustained. But in addition to these 
 provisions for allowing a noiseless approach to 
 their prey, we find another nearly as essential, and 
 where a contrary arrangement would have ren- 
 dered the others useless. The colours of the 
 plumage exhibit a union of tints best suited for 
 concealment ; nothing marked or obtrusive, no 
 bright or gaudy plumes which might quickly catch 
 the eye of an otherwise unwarned prey, but a 
 chaste and harmonious blending of the more 
 sombre hues, mixing as a whole into a neutral 
 tint, but shewing, on close inspection, the most 
 minute and delicate of Nature's pencillings. The 
 tarsi and feet, though not shewing any grc^t 
 strength, are finely formed for grasping, for the 
 external toe is versatile, as in the Scansores ; and 
 the foot can thus be used either in scrambling m 
 the interior of some rent or chimney, or in the 
 hollow of a tree, while it also becomes more com- 
 plete as an organ of prehension. 
 
244 OWLS. 
 
 In their habits, the Owls may be generally 
 termed arboreal, the dark recesses of the forest or 
 wooded rocks affording cover from the too strong 
 light of day. From these retreats they can make 
 excursions in twilight, either to the outskirts or to 
 the more open glades. A few species are marked 
 by the peculiarity of their selecting the refuge 
 afforded by ruined buildings during the day ; and 
 in almost all countries, one at least is known as 
 delighting in such retreats. One British bird, and 
 a few foreign species, do inhabit countries where 
 wood is scarce, or totally wanting ; but their day 
 retreats are either among the crevices of rocks, or 
 in the burrows of some animals. 
 
 The eggs are of a rounded form, and are always 
 nearly pure white, in some assuming a slight 
 greenish tinge as among the Harriers ; see 
 
 PLATE XXV. 
 Eggs of Harriers and Owls. 
 
 The geographical distribution of the birds which 
 belong to the British Fauna is extensive. The 
 common White Owl reaches the North American 
 continent, perhaps also to that of India, while it 
 seems represented in all. the other quarters of the 
 wonu. by some bird nearly allied in size and 
 colouring, but of which the specific distinctions 
 
PLATE 25. 
 
 
OWLS, 245 
 
 have not yet been properly ascertained or charac- 
 terized. The Long-eared Owl is the same in 
 Africa ;* also in North America. The Short- 
 eared Owl is by no means uncommon in Ame- 
 rica, and it is also found in the Indian divi- 
 sion of the world, for we have received speci- 
 mens in every way identical from China. The 
 Tawny Owl, so far as we know, is restricted in 
 its range to Europe, but has its representative, 
 closely allied in habits, in the Barred Owl of 
 North America. The Snowy Owl has the regions 
 of the north for its strongholds, Northern Eu- 
 rope, and America, reaching nearly to the polar 
 latitudes, while it appears also to have been met 
 with, but more sparingly, on the colder frontiers 
 of the Asiatic continent ; in Great Britain, it is 
 very rare. The small species of Owls, or Noctuce, 
 may also be accounted only as visiters having 
 reached the limit of migration, than as really be- 
 longing to the natural fauna of our islands ; and 
 so much confusion yet exists in the characters 
 under which they have been described, that it is 
 scarcely possible to correctly assign the boundaries 
 of their range. 
 
 The systematic arrangement of the owls is a 
 task of great difficulty, both from the general 
 scarcity of facts which are known relating to the 
 
 * Temminck, Manual (TOrnithologie. 
 
246 OTIS. 
 
 habits of the different species, and from the few 
 collections which contain a large series of speci- 
 mens; while, in a group of birds which evidently 
 possesses a very acute sense of hearing to assist in 
 securing their sustenance, the ears must shew some 
 peculiarities of formation which, in dried or stuffed 
 skins, can scarcely be examined with satisfaction. 
 In seeking for the typical species, we must exa- 
 mine those parts of their form which are most 
 subservient to their wants as nocturnal preying 
 birds ; and it is in the organs of sight and hearing, 
 and their accessaries, where they chiefly vary from 
 their representatives of the day. The eyes, in 
 those species which appear' to have the senses of 
 hearing and seeing most developed, are large, sur- 
 rounded by a bony ring capable of expansion and 
 compression, and they are placed in a large con- 
 cave disk, like a lamp in the centre of a reflector. 
 In the day, the birds remain in a state of repose 
 in some dark retreat, and there take the rest which 
 others enjoy during the night ; but, on the ap- 
 proach of twilight, their morning, as it were, com- 
 mences, and they then display an activity which has 
 not always been reconciled with their apparently, 
 at other times, stupid appearance ; and during this 
 time, w r e have every reason to believe that, from 
 the provisions of their form, their vision is as acute 
 at a short distance, as that of the Falcons, but 
 that it is not very extended, which, indeed, from 
 
OWLS 247 
 
 their close and low manner of hunting, would be 
 unnecessary. The ears have a very large conchal 
 opening, and have an operculum of greater or less 
 size ; and the whole can he thrown open at plea- 
 sure, and exposes a large concave opening, which, 
 in a time of complete silence, is admirably fitted 
 to catch the slightest vibration of sound. 
 
 White^ or Bam Owl. 
 
 The species which Mr Swainson has selected as 
 typical, or exhibiting all the peculiarities of the 
 nocturnal Raptores in their greatest development, 
 is the common White or Barn Owl of Europe. 
 
248 OWLS. 
 
 PLATE XXVI. 
 Head of Barn Owl, natural size. 
 
 In this bird there is a very great perfection in the 
 organs, but, at the same time, there is an apparent 
 deficiency in some of them when compared with 
 the corresponding parts of another form, that 
 of Otus. In the White Owl, the plumage is of 
 the greatest softness and pliability ; the feathered 
 ruff and disk, in the centre of which the eyes 
 are placed, are wide and expansive, and the 
 eye externally appears full; but this important 
 organ-, when removed from the socket, is neither 
 proportionally larger, nor is it surrounded with a 
 bony ring of much power. The separation of the 
 ruff of feathers surrounding the disk opens very 
 widely to display what may be called the conch of 
 the ear, and the operculum is large and rounded, 
 but the external opening of the ear itself is small. 
 The shape of the bill in this form is lengthened, 
 and the gape is wide. The habits of the White 
 Owl are more familiar than those of any other 
 European species. Though in part arboreal, it 
 prefers rocks and ruined buildings for its retreat, 
 and even the less frequented parts of inhabited 
 houses. It is easily approached by day, and be- 
 comes tame in confinement. 
 
 In the genus Otus, composed of a portion of 
 

OWLS. 249 
 
 those species whose heads are ornamented with 
 lengthened feathers, which can be raised or de- 
 pressed at pleasure, and which has gained for the 
 hirds possessing them the common appellation of 
 " Eared" we have the plumage equally soft and 
 pliant as in the last, and the colouring is composed 
 of blended shades of brown and yellow. The 
 facial disk is large and expanded, and the eye, 
 when removed, is large, and is surrounded by a 
 ring of bony plates of much strength. The conch 
 is large, but the operculum is not so large or ex- 
 panded as in Strix, while, on the contrary, the 
 external opening of the ear is large, as if to com- 
 pensate for the lesser surface which can be thrown 
 open to receive the sounds. The bill is short and 
 hooked, the rictus not so ample. The habits of 
 Otus are more decidedly arboreal. They abide con- 
 stantly in woods, and breed on trees ; and, when 
 once roused from their day retreat, become wary 
 and shy. 
 
 The food of the Owls consists chiefly of the 
 smaller mammalia. There are few birds, which 
 our common species could seize, which are noc- 
 turnal, and they do not seem to endeavour to seek 
 out their sleeping retreats. The castings of our 
 three commonest birds almost invariably contain 
 the remains^f mice and arvicoke, which, prowling 
 for their smaller wants in the night, also attract 
 attention, at the same time that they are evidently 
 
250 OWLS. 
 
 eagerly hunted for. Small birds are, however, 
 occasionally taken, the remains being found in the 
 stomach ; at the same time, we mention the mam- 
 malia as the more general food. The Short-eared 
 Owl is a bird considerably more diurnal in its 
 habits, and during the breeding season it preys 
 on young of game and the birds which frequent 
 muirland districts. The two large species, also, 
 seem to attack grouse and rabbits, or young hares, 
 but all of them by coming suddenly on their prey, 
 and not by entering upon any chase or pursuit. 
 Mr Thompson, in his paper on the Irish Raptores^ 
 mentions, on the authority of a friend, that the 
 remains of coleoptera have been frequently found 
 mixed up with the castings.* Temminck men- 
 tions this food in his Manual, and it is also con- 
 firmed by Mr Waterton, who discovered the shreds 
 of beetles in the castings of the Tawny Owl 
 Several of the night-flying coleoptera are of large 
 size ; and if we judge from the analogy presented 
 by the smaller Falcons, we are entitled to consider 
 that insects are more frequently preyed on than 
 is at present suspected. Some of the small species 
 feed wholly " upon beetles, grasshoppers, and other 
 insects." t Fish also form a portion of their 
 food. Mr Waterton has seen the White Owl 
 seize a fish in the water ; while we have the autho- 
 
 * See Magazine of Zoology and Botany, ii. p. 178. 
 
 f* Mr Spence, in London's Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. p. 655. 
 
 
OWLS. 251 
 
 rity of the same gentleman, of Mr Bloxom, and 
 of Mr Bree of Allesly, for the same kind of prey 
 being seized by the Tawny Owl.* 
 
 We shall notice first the genus Strix, restricting 
 it to the form of the common European Barn or 
 White Owl. 
 
 STRIX, generic characters. Bill lengthened, 
 nearly straight at the base, and bending to 
 a hook to the tip ; cere fleshy ; nostrils oval, 
 and placed on the anterior ridge of the cere ; 
 facial disk large and complete; eyes com- 
 paratively small ; auditory conch very large, 
 furnished with a broad, rounded operculum ; 
 external opening of the ear comparatively 
 small.t Wings ample ; second quill longest, 
 first and third equal; tail short, even; legs 
 clothed with cetaceous feathers ; toes thinly 
 covered with hairs ; claws long, sharp, slightly 
 curved, grooved beneath. 
 
 * London's Mag. of Nat. Hist. vii. p. 146. 
 t See woodcut, p. 247. 
 
252 
 
 CWLS. 
 
 Note. Habits arboreal; breeding stations, mined 
 or unfrequented buildings, holes in rocks; 
 food, principally the smaller mammalia, mus, 
 sorex, arvicola, &c. 
 
253 
 
 WIIITK OR BARN OWl. 
 
 Strix flammea. LIXN.EUS. 
 PLATE XXVII. 
 
 Strix flammea, Linn. Aluco flammeus, Fleming Br. Ani- 
 mals Chouette effraie, Temm. Man. White Owl, 
 
 Barn Owl, Screech Owl, of British ornithologists. 
 
 IN detailing the habits of this common species, 
 we shall state what in general they are, being 
 aware that in some localities they may vary 
 slightly, and that there are occasional exceptions 
 to its usual manner of feeding, and hunting for 
 its prey. 
 
 The White or Barn Owl is by lar the most 
 common and equally distributed species over the 
 British Islands, very common in England, and 
 abounding in Scotland, and extending to the 
 north, while it is apparently equally common in 
 Ireland. It is this species only which frequents 
 ruined or unfrequented buildings, the spires of 
 churches, the pigeon cot, or the watch tower ; in 
 such situations, some hole is selected within 
 which it can repose by day, or place its nest in 
 the season ; the chimney is made use of for such 
 purposes, or some ivied crevice in the mouldering 
 walls may be sought for and found fitting. In a 
 
t>54 WHITE OR BARN OWL. 
 
 district where buildings of this description are not 
 frequent, some thick pine or evergreen, or one of 
 those varieties of the oak which retain their 
 withered leaves thickly during winter, serve as a 
 retreat by day, the bird generally perched quite 
 upright, and often close to the bole or trunk of 
 the tree ; and where it is frequent, a walk through 
 the wood or plantations, and a careful inspection 
 of the evergreens, will commonly discover one, 
 the pure white plumage of the breast being con- 
 spicuous, and shining even through the thickest 
 foliage. When they are thus found, they are 
 easily approached very close, and we saw an 
 instance where a spruce tree was climbed till 
 within a few feet of the drowsy bird, which was 
 only fairly roused when an attempt was made to 
 gripe at the legs. When discovered in a chimney, 
 they do not attempt to escape upwards, but turn 
 on their backs and snap and hiss, their common 
 manner of defence where escape seems unattain- 
 able. Neither when roused from such retreats do 
 they seem so wary as our other species, always 
 permitting an approach within ten or twelve yards. 
 But in such situations, or in woods, we have never 
 seen the nest, though a hollow tree may be occasion- 
 ally selected, as mentioned by Temminck. From 
 these retreats a sally is made each evening generally 
 between sunset and dusk ; the open glades of the 
 woods are hunted, the meadows and grass fields, in 
 a low and sailing flight. Meadows are a favourite 
 
WHITE OR BARN OWL. 255 
 
 resort for the Armcolos^ and a newly mown field 
 of hay we have seen very carefully examined. 
 The prey is dropt suddenly down upon without 
 any apparent effort ; at times a stop in the steady 
 flight is suddenly made, the bird rises slightly in 
 the air, and immediately makes the stroke or 
 pounce. Sometimes a considerable time is spent 
 on the spot where the prey is seized, as if it was 
 immediately torn and fed upon ; but it is more 
 generally carried off at once to be consumed at 
 more leisure, and this is always done at the season 
 of incubation for the support of the young. Ex- 
 cursions are often made to a much greater distance, 
 and with considerable regularity; we have fre- 
 quently met the White Owl a mile from his cover, 
 and the Irish birds seem to stray even farther. 
 Mr Thompson says, " I have the following evidence 
 of its regular flight to some distance from its 
 domicile, just as twilight commences. Near Bel- 
 fast, there is a considerable extent of low lying 
 meadows, which are flooded by heavy rains, and 
 at such times are resorted to by various species of 
 wild fowl (Anatidw.) The flood never attaining 
 such a height as to cover the banks surrounding 
 these meadows, they are frequented by persons 
 for the purpose of shooting wild fowl on their 
 evening flight, and to whom the owl, on as ' mur- 
 derous deeds intent,' occasionally falls a victim." * 
 This species, and its congeners, have gained a 
 * Magazine of Zool. and Bot. ii. p. 178. 
 
256 WHITE OR BARN OWL. 
 
 bad character from the supposed destruction to 
 young birds and game, &c. but, so far as we 
 have observed, without reason ; and the occasional 
 seizure of some young bird, hare, or rabbit, from 
 the preserve, is amply recompensed by checking 
 the multiplication of the mice, shrews, and cam- 
 panols, which, when numerous, are extremely 
 destructive to many kinds of vegetation. Depre- 
 dations on the pigeon cot seem equally without 
 foundation ; jackdaws often enter the houses 
 for the purpose of breeding, but at the same 
 time feast on the pigeon's eggs, and for this, or 
 the depredations of rats, which commonly also 
 abound, has the White Owl been blamed. Our 
 valuable correspondent, Mr Thompson, mentions 
 a case where their forbearance was well exempli- 
 fied: in a dove-cot in. or near Belfast, a pair of 
 White Owls had their nest, " this contained four 
 young, which were brought up at the same time 
 with many pigeons, the nests containing the latter 
 were on every side, but the Owls never attempted 
 to molest either the parents or their young/' * They 
 are, in fact, rather protectors than depredators, for, 
 if breeding themselves in the vicinity, the rats will 
 be seriously thinned to supply food for the young. 
 In the instance above alluded to, " never less than 
 six, and so many as fifteen mice and young rats 
 have been observed on the shelf beside the nest, 
 and this was the number left after the night's 
 * Magazine of Zool. and Bot. ii. o. 178. 
 
WHITE OR BARN OWL. 257 
 
 repast." All our records tend to shew that these 
 small mammalia are the principal food of this 
 useful bird, and the mimhers destroyed nightly is 
 very great. 
 
 The nest is constructed at the bottom of the 
 chosen spot of slender sticks, lined with grasses or 
 straws, wool or hair being seldom an ingredient 
 in its composition; the fabric is in general not 
 bulky, and in some instances little more than what 
 covers the surface is made use of. The eggs are 
 
 GO 
 
 rather round in form, and are pure white; the 
 young, soon after being hatched, are covered with 
 a very soft down of a snowy whiteness ; with 
 increasing age, the yellow feathers of the upper 
 parts gradually appear, and by the completion of 
 the plumage, there is little difference from the 
 perfect state of succeeding years. "When intruded 
 on in the nest, they throw themselves back, hissing 
 and snapping at the unwelcome visiter. 
 
 When the White Owl has been roused from his 
 resting place in the day, he flies most unsteadily ; 
 lie is " not awake," as it is often said at the time 
 by ordinary spectators, and it is certain that in a 
 clear day he does not recover or seem at ease in 
 his flight, and, where the ground is tolerably open, 
 may be almost kept up with by running. On 
 such occasions, it is curious to see the crowd of 
 small birds which flock around his flight ; the 
 chaffinch is one of the most prominent aggressors, 
 
 R 
 
258 WHITE OR BARN OWL. 
 
 both in keeping close and in clamour. The same 
 scene takes place when the Owl happens to he 
 discovered by these birds reposing in some thicket, 
 and they generally have an assistant in the small 
 blue titmouse, which is even bolder in making 
 attack. The bird all the while sits motionless with 
 a drowsy glimmer of the eyes, and I am not sure 
 that he is ever fairly turned out of his retreat. 
 The same motive seems here to attract these little 
 birds, as occurs when a cat or fox is discovered 
 strolling through the thicket ; the prowler may 
 be at once discovered to any one acquainted with 
 the peculiar cries uttered by the clamorous host of 
 tiny pursuers. 
 
 In confinement, the White Owl is easily tamed, 
 and becomes familiar, sitting in some corner, or 
 hole made on purpose, during the day; but if 
 disturbed, occasionally rising and eating its food. 
 Towards evening it becomes active, and will then 
 come playfully to the person accustomed to be 
 near, putting on the attitudes of a raptorial bird, 
 and coming forward with freedom, and without 
 alarm. 
 
 The plumage of an adult bird of this species is 
 beautifully clean and pure. An old male pro- 
 cured many years since reposing in an old chimney 
 in company with its mate, is the purest in tint we 
 have seen. The whole face, ruff, sides of the neck, 
 lower parts and thighs, are of the most silky and 
 unsullied white, a slight tinge of reddish brown 
 
WHITE OR BARN OWL. 259 
 
 being seen around and at the inner corners of the 
 eyes. The ruff, which is often marked on the upper 
 part with yellowish or dark tips, is quite uniform 
 in colour and unmarked. Upper parts pale ochra- 
 ceous yellow, delicately crossed on the crown, 
 back, shoulders, tips of the quills and secondaries, 
 with irregular wavy bars, each feather except the 
 quills having a small white spot surrounded with 
 black at the tips ; the quills are paler towards their 
 base, and are crossed with clouded bars of a deeper 
 ochraceous tint, mottled with gray ; inner surface 
 of the wings pure white and spotless. Tail is very 
 pale ochraceous, delicately mottled with blackish 
 gray. Tarsi are clothed with thick plumes at 
 the knees, which gradually become thinner and 
 shorter towards the feet, on which the feathering 
 appears as scattered bristly hairs. This bird we 
 consider as a very pale coloured specimen ; in the 
 common state of the plumage, the shades of the 
 colour are deeper, the markings bolder and more 
 decided, more reddish brown around the eyes, and 
 a tint of ochraceous around the ruff, and the bars 
 on the wings appear dull black on the lower side. 
 Length to extremity of the tail about thirteen 
 and a-half inches, the wings exceeding it about 
 half an inch. 
 
 In the female, the colours are -rather duller, the 
 ochraceous colour often extending upon the lower 
 parts, particularly across the breast ; and the belly 
 
260 ULULA. 
 
 and vent is often marked at tlie tips of the feathers 
 with grayish black spots. 
 
 The eyes of this species are smaller in proportion 
 than in the other British species. (See wood cut, 
 p. 251.) The irides deep umber brown. The colour 
 of the bill is yellowish pink. In the extra Euro- 
 pean specimens of birds which are considered to 
 be identical with this, the under parts are always 
 more tinged with ochraceous. 
 
 For our next genus we have adopted the name 
 of Ulula, given by Cuvier to the Tawny Owl, as 
 more appropriate, and possessing otherwise as 
 strong claims as that of Syrnium (Savigny.) 
 
 As a generic type, it will appear to possess charac- 
 ters of a very marked description, and varying widely 
 from those of the birds we have commenced with, 
 and which Mr Swainson has used as typical of the 
 whole group. The much stronger and less length- 
 ened bill, the greater development of the organs of 
 sight, the small conchal opening, and the difference 
 in the structure of the wings, are all very impor- 
 tant. The ears, though having the conchal opening 
 comparatively small, have an operculum propor- 
 tionally larger, and more complete than any of the 
 other European forms, Strix excepted; in the 
 American Barred Owl, which has been generally 
 ranged with this, both on account of the similarity 
 of structure and manners, the operculum is rounded, 
 nearly similar in form to the true Strix^ and : 
 
ULULA. 
 
 261 
 
 capable of entirely closing the conchal opening. 
 The rudiment of a lobe on the upper mandible is 
 also important. The habits of the birds which 
 we know as composing this genus are strictly 
 arboreal, they live in woods, breed on trees, and 
 seldom make excursions to the open country in 
 search for prey. It appears to be an American 
 and European form ; the allied birds we have seen 
 from South Africa differ materially in the form of 
 the ear, though in other proportions of the parts 
 they more nearly agree. 
 
 Tawny Owl. 
 
262 
 
 ULULA. 
 
 ULULA, .generic characters. Bill bending from 
 the base, hooked and strong, mandible with 
 a slight indication of a lobe or tooth ; conchal 
 opening not large ; operculum ample, oval ; 
 wings short, concave, rounded ; first quill 
 short; fourth and fifth equal and longest; 
 the four or five first notched on their inner 
 webs, and with a rather deep emarginatioa 
 on the outer webs towards the base. Tail 
 rounded ample, but not long. Tarsi plumed, 
 toes plumed above for a part of their length. 
 

UNIVERSITY 
 
 ^S A -IFOR^' 
 
 TAWNY OWL. 
 
 Ulula stridula. SELBY. 
 
 PLATE XXVIII. 
 
 Slrix stridula, Linn. Chouette hulotte, Temm. Ulula 
 
 stridula, Selby Tawny Owl, Brown Owl, Ivy Owl of 
 
 British Ornithologists. 
 
 MOST of our writers on British Ornithology have 
 recorded this bird as being next to the White Owl, 
 the most common of our natives ; Montague calls 
 it " by far the most plentiful Owl in England." 
 So far as our observations in the North of England 
 and South of Scotland have extended, this is not 
 the case, the Long- eared Owl appearing much more 
 plentiful, and more generally distributed. "While 
 in Ireland, although it is mentioned in the statis- 
 tical surveys, it has never occurred to Mr Thomp- 
 son, and we are perhaps without any direct autho- 
 rity for its occurrence there. Like the greater 
 part of the family, it is strictly arboreal in its 
 habits, delighting in dark or gloomy woods of pine 
 or evergreen, enjoying there a grateful shade by 
 day, and a secure retreat for its nest and young in 
 the hollows of the more aged, or the deserted nests 
 which have been placed near the summit of the 
 
264 TAWNY TWL. 
 
 highest trees. It is not so shy as the Long-eared Owl, 
 allowing a very close approach when discovered in 
 its dormitory ; when roused, flying onward only for 
 a short distance in a low lazy flight, and in an ex- 
 tensive wood it will continue long to flit on before, 
 apparently unwilling to rise, until urged by the too 
 near approach of the intruder. It appears even 
 more sensitive to the light than the White Owl, 
 and Montague remarks, " and so defective is its 
 sight in a bright day, that it is no uncommon thing 
 for boys to hunt them down with sticks and 
 stones/'* During the flight in the day, and when 
 disturbed, it moves in silence, but at night it is 
 this bird which principally utters the peculiarly 
 modulated and toned "hootings," which are con- 
 verted into forebodings of evil ; this hooting is the 
 more peculiar call of the genus (ulula ;) and from 
 its melancholy and sometimes startling noise, has 
 led the superstition in all countries where they are 
 natives. The Barred Owl of America, for instance, 
 seems equally noted with its European congener 
 for this peculiar call. 
 
 The Tawny Owl, as noted above, seeks its 
 breeding place in hollow trees, or the deserted 
 nests of the carrion-crow or magpie, sometimes in 
 the holes of rocks,t and Montague says sometimes 
 in barns. Little preparation for depositing the 
 
 \Dictionary. f Hewitson. 
 
TAWNY OWL. 265 
 
 eggs is made, a general smoothing of the bottom 
 of place of deposit, with the lining of a few slender 
 sticks, straws, or grass. The eggs are from three 
 to four in number, larger than any of the British 
 Owls of a nearly similar size, nearly round, and 
 pure white. (See Plate XXV. fig. 3.) 
 
 The food of this Owl is more indiscriminate 
 than that of our two more common species, the 
 "White and Long-eared. It is a powerful bird, and 
 will take young hares and rabbits ; we have found 
 the bones of one of them in castings, which, though 
 we cannot affirm certainly, we are inclined to 
 think were cast by this bird ; rats and the arvicolcn 
 are very favourite food, and the most common ; 
 small birds are also taken, and the specimen from 
 which we made the drawings for the illustration 
 of the characters, contained the remains of a thrush. 
 Fish are proved also to form a part of the prey of 
 this bird. Mr Bloxam and Mr Bree both notice 
 it, the latter writes, " Some years since, several* 
 young Owlst were taken from the nest, and placed 
 in a yew tree in the Rectory Garden here ; in this 
 situation the parent birds repeatedly brought them 
 live fish, bull-heads, (cottits gobw^) Loach, (colitis 
 larlatula.) Since the above period, I have on 
 more than one occasion found the same fish, either 
 
 * London's Mag. of Nat. Hist. vii. p. 146. 
 t London's Mag. of Na*. Hist. i. p. 179. 
 
266 TAWNY OWL. 
 
 whole or in fragments, lying under the trees on 
 which I have observed the young birds to perch 
 after they had left the nest." Mr "Waterton also 
 confirms the fact ; and from the different localities 
 it would appear that this food was pretty generally 
 sought after by the Brown or Tawny Owl. The 
 manner of taking the prey is scarcely -so well 
 ascertained, from the account given at page 250, 
 the White Owl seized its prey in the water, 
 and we have an anecdote mentioned by Mr 
 Jennings, where the gold and silver fish in the 
 flower garden at Bulstrode were missing, and 
 watchmen being appointed, saw Owls, which they 
 called the common Brown Owl, alight on the side 
 of the pond, and " there waiting the approach of 
 the fish, captured and devoured them." Mi 
 Waterton also remarks, " I have found by dis- 
 secting the bolus of this species, that it feeds 
 copiously on different sorts of Beetles," a circum- 
 stance not entirely confined to this species. 
 
 The plumage of this species varies considerably 
 in its tint and intensity, whence it has been 
 described under more than one title, or composing 
 more than one species; the distributions of the 
 principal workings, however, continue similar, but 
 there is a considerable variation in the form and 
 size of the more subordinate bars or crossings. 
 The tint varies from a deep wood brown colour, 
 to an umber or tawny brown, more or less tinted 
 
TAWNY OWL. 267 
 
 with ochraceous or reddish ; in the most common 
 state the plumage is of a yellowish umber brown, 
 the feathers on the crown and nape deep umber 
 brown in the centre, on the back each feather is 
 longitudinally streaked along the shaft with umber 
 brown, and marked across with delicate irregular 
 bars of the same colour. The feathers immediately 
 lying over the wings are pale ochraceous, dark 
 along the centre, and with the outer webs pure 
 white, which forms a conspicuous longitudinal 
 streak when the bird is at rest ; the feathers com- 
 posing the wings have irregular markings of the 
 same tint, and somewhat same distribution with 
 those on the back ; the coverts are tipped with a 
 large white spot on their outer webs, secondaries 
 indistinctly barred with wood brown and ochra- 
 ceous ; the quills with deep wood brown and 
 yellowish white on the outer webs, pale reddish 
 brown on the inner. The tail is rounded, indis- 
 tinctly barred and mottled with wood and pale 
 reddish brown, the light markings palest on the 
 outer feathers. 
 
 The ruff is somewhat imperfect above the eyes, 
 but the disk is ample, grayish white, tinted with 
 ochraceous and reddish. The under parts are 
 white, or yellowish white ; the feathers longitudi- 
 nally streaked with deep umber brown, and crossed 
 with occasionally interrupted bars of the same 
 colour, yellowish white and ochraceous. Tarsi 
 and feet thickly feathered as far as the last scales 
 
268 NOCTUA. 
 
 of the toes. The length will run from thirteen 
 and a-half inches and fourteen inches. The form 
 of this species is strong and compact, wings ample, 
 hut not long ; feet and tarsi muscular ; the plumage 
 full, and very soft and downy. 
 
 The genus Noctua of Savigny, which composes 
 the next very intricate group, forms Mr Swain- 
 son's third type of the true Strigince, and what 
 that gentleman considers will prove the tenui- 
 rostral form ; he proposes for it the title of 
 ScotopMluS) rejecting Noctua altogether as applied 
 to a group of the lepidoptera. 
 
 We have taken Strix Tengmalmi of Gmel. 
 Noctua Tengmalmi, Selhy," as typical of this, 
 retaining the old title, and have derived our generic 
 characters from it ; the other British hird, gene- 
 rally referred to the same genus, seems to differ 
 in some points, which we shall notice immediately 
 
 
269 
 
 NOCTUA, generic characters. Bill much curved 
 from the base, cere short, nostrils oval, fascial 
 disk almost complete, slightly imperfect above 
 the eyes ; feathers composing it large ; conchal 
 opening large, operculum oval, narrow, but 
 running along its whole upper edge. Wings 
 with the quills ample, rounded ; third and 
 fourth equal and longest ; inner webs of the 
 first and second notched ; tail ample, nearly 
 square ; tarsi and toes completely feathered 
 with soft hairy plumes ; claws delicate to- 
 wards the tip, sharp ; general plumage full 
 and soft. 
 
TENGMALM'S NIGHT OWL. 
 
 Nodua Tengmalmi SELBY. 
 
 PLATE XXIX. 
 
 Strix Tengmalmi, Chouette Tengmalm, Temm. Man. jf'Orntih. 
 Strix Tengmalmi, North. Zool. ii. p. 94. Tengmalm's 
 Night Owl, Noctua Tengmalmi, Selby, Ittust. Br. Ornith. 
 pi. xxvi Little Owl, Wilkugh. Eng. edit. p. 105 ?? 
 
 WE have thought it best to exclude most of the 
 synonyms which are sometimes applied to this 
 species, from the confusion which has been made 
 between it and the next. The last we have 
 quoted with a doubt, but if correct, it will shew 
 how long it is since this little Owl was known; 
 " the ears great," will not allow it to belong to the 
 next, to which it has been generally attached. 
 The figure of Bewick, and his description, appear 
 also rather to belong to this than the next, except 
 in the drawing of the legs ; and it would be worth 
 while for some ornithologist to see the specimen, 
 and ascertain decidedly the species from which 
 his figure was drawn. 
 
 This pretty little species is a rare bird in Britain, 
 and can be viewed only as an occasional visitant ; 
 " several instances of iu capture" are said to have 
 

 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
TENGMALM'S NIGHT OWL. 271 
 
 " recently occurred," but the localities have not been 
 detailed ; that in Mr Selby's collection was killed 
 lear Morpeth in Northumberland. It seems 
 pretty common in some parts of the continent, 
 particularly the northern and eastern parts, living 
 in the extensive pine forests, and breeding in the 
 holes of decayed trees. According to Temminck, 
 it is in a great part insectivorous, feeding on 
 phalenae and coleoptera; the smaller mammalia 
 are also said to be eaten. It is found also in North 
 America, extending to the borders of the Great 
 Slave Lake. The plumage is remarkably loose 
 and soft, at the same time full and ample ; the 
 fascial disk is white, shading to yellowish white, 
 and gray towards the outer edges ; while around 
 the eyes, and on the feathers which cover the bill, 
 it is of a dull and deep black. The ruff is well 
 marked, and the feathers composing it are broad ; 
 opposite the conchal opening it is deep brownish 
 black, beneath it is pale liver brown, with the 
 base of the feathers white. The head, upper parts, 
 wings, and tail, have liver brown for their ground 
 colour ; on the nape the base of the feathers is 
 yellowish white, giving the appearance of a pale 
 collar. The colour of the back is nearly uniform. 
 The edges of the shoulders white, and also the 
 scapulars, the latter having a narrow edging of 
 . liver brown ; the greater coverts, secondaries, and 
 
272 
 
 TENGMALM S NIGHT OWL. 
 
 quills, are marked with oval spots or bars on the 
 outer webs. The tail is crossed with three or 
 four narrow interrupted bars of white. The lower 
 parts are white, clouded with liver brown ; the 
 tarsi and toes are thinly feathered with soft downy 
 yellowish white plumes ; claws rather long, slender, 
 and sharp. Length from top of crown to extremity 
 of the tail, from eight and a-half to nine inches. 
 
 Our next little Owl is that which we have just 
 alluded to as confounded in its characters with 
 Noctua Tengmalmi. For this form we have 
 taken the title which Mr Swainson proposed for 
 Noctua that of Scotophiltcs. It will be seen to 
 differ materially in the form of the ears and struc- 
 ture of the wings. 
 
SCOTOPEIH.US. 
 
 273 
 
 SCOTOPHILUS, generic characters. Facial disk 
 more imperfect than the last ; conchal open- 
 ing and operculum very small ; wings length- 
 ened, the quills narrow, deeply notched on 
 the inner webs, fourth quill rather longest ; 
 tarsi thinly clothed with feathers ; toes clothed 
 with hairlike feathers, hare at the extremity. 
 
NAKED-FOOTED NIGHT OWL. 
 
 Scotopldlus nudipes. 
 PLATE XXX. 
 
 Strix nudipes, Nttson^ Orn. Swe. Gould's Birds of Europe. 
 Noctua passerina, Little Night-Owl, Selby. Strix and 
 Noctua passerina of modern ornithologists. 
 
 THERE' is little doubt that the name passerina^ 
 applied by Linnaeus to a small Owl, has, I may 
 say, carelessly been given to several diminutive 
 species on account of their size only, and without 
 looking whether it was properly applied or not. 
 The bird of which we have endeavoured to give 
 a representation, is the Strix or Noctua passerina 
 of most modern ornithologists, but it is not the 
 S. passerina of Linnaeus, or the bird to which 
 that title was originally applied ; neither can it be 
 the Noctua minor of Ray, for that naturalist sap, 
 " parvitate sua ut quae merula minor sit, nee 
 alaudam magnitudine multum excedat."* We 
 are not satisfied, also, that it is the Little Owl of 
 Willoughby, (Eng. edit. p. 105,) although in some 
 points the description agrees tolerably. He says, 
 41 The ears great," t which would coincide much 
 
 * Ray, Syn, Method. Av. p. 26 
 t Willoualiby, Oniith. pi. 5. p. 105. 
 
NAKED-FOOTED NIGHT OWL. 275 
 
 better with our last species. There seems to be 
 little doubt, again, that the bird described by 
 Nilson is identical with the passerina of moderns, 
 and on this account we would prefer retaining for 
 this the title " nudipes" reserving the other for 
 the small European species, which, we believe, 
 has not yet been recorded as kille'd in Great 
 Britain or Ireland. 
 
 On comparing the woodcuts which we have 
 given of the parts of N. Tengmalmi with those 
 illustrating this description, it will be seen that 
 there is a very marked difference, sufficiently so to 
 render the birds generically distinct ; and in this 
 case, perhaps the proposed term of Scotophilm, 
 applied by Mr Swainson, might be used to desig- 
 nate either the true Noctuce, of which we have 
 placed N. Tengmalmi typical, or be given, as 
 we have now done, to those of similar form with 
 the bird we are describing. 
 
 The principal distinction of form in these birds 
 is the imperfect disk and ruff of nudipes^ and the 
 small conchal opening. The annexed sketch will 
 shew the comparative size in the two species, but 
 being drawn from dried specimens, may not be 
 quite correct in form. The legs and feet of Teng- 
 malmi are covered to the very claws with thick 
 and soft downy feathers, while in nudipes the tarsi 
 are more lengthened, the feathering more depressed 
 and less downy, and it ceases at the junction of 
 the tarsus with the toes, the latter being only 
 
276 NAKED- FOOTED NIGHT OWL. 
 
 clothed with sparse bristly plumes on their upper 
 surface. In the wings, the longitudinal proportion 
 of the quills does not much vary, but in Teng- 
 inalmi the feathers are soft and broad, the two 
 first only notched, and the whole wing shewing 
 the provision for noiseless and sustained flight ; 
 in nudipes, the quills are narrow and stiff, the 
 four first notched, the fifth slightly so, and shew 
 the structure more adapted for a swift flight. 
 
 The plumage of this species, to a certain degree, 
 resembles the last ; the disk is grayish white, 
 mottled with liver brown, particularly beneath the 
 eyes, but it w r ants the dull black feathers covering 
 the base of the bill and surrounding the orbits. 
 The ground tint of the upper parts, as in the last, 
 are liver brown on the head and back of the neck, 
 having the feathers white along the centre, and 
 ending in an oval spot of the same colour ; on the 
 back of the neck and scapulars, the feathers are 
 white, margined with liver brown, and at the base 
 of the same tint; on the nape, the white is most pre- 
 dominant, and forms a pale collar; on the scapulars, 
 the white markings are also large, sometimes con- 
 fined to the outer web ; and on the back, the dis- 
 united webs of one feather lying over the white 
 portion of the one before it, gives a clouded 
 appearance to these parts, from the light colour 
 shining through. The quills are marked with 
 yellowish white bars on the outer webs ; on the 
 inner, with large yellowish or ochraceous white 
 
NAKED-FOOTED NIGHT OWL. 
 
 277 
 
 round or oval spots ; the secondaries are barred 
 with white, tinted with reddish brown at the 
 margin of the bands. The tail is not so ample 
 as in Tengmalnii, and is crossed with about four 
 ochraceous bands ; the under parts yellowish white, 
 streaked or clouded with liver brown, the mark- 
 ings indistinct from the loose webs of one feather 
 lying over another ; the tarsi are yellowish white. 
 In this species, the bill seems to be yellow in a 
 fresh state ; in the preceding, it is gray or bluish 
 white. Length, from crown to extremity of tail, 
 about eight and a half inches. 
 
 This bird can also only be looked on as ; ; 
 straggler, and the localities where specimens have 
 been killed have not been authentically recorded. 
 Mr Gould, however, assures me that several fresh 
 specimens were to be seen in London during last 
 spring. One came into the possession of Mr 
 Leadbetter.* 
 
 * Mr Yarrell, in his Third Number, mentions several 
 instances rf : ts occurrence in England. 
 
278 uius, 
 
 IN the birds composing the genus Otus, 
 Cuvier, we hegin to see habits more diurnal, and 
 a less degree of annoyance when exposed to a 
 bright sun ; more wary habits when disturbed ; the 
 irides coloured, as in the aberrant forms of the 
 Falconidas. The structure, however, continues all 
 the beautiful peculiarities for nightly hunting, but 
 the habits we have mentioned must weigh strongly 
 in coming to a proper decision what form is entitled 
 to rank as typical of the whole family. The head 
 is adorned with egrets or lengthened feathers, a 
 modification of a crest. 
 
 OTUS, generic characters. Bill comparatively 
 short, bending from the base, and forming an 
 eliptic curve ; margins of the mandible nearly 
 straight ; nostrils oval, placed obliquely. Con- 
 chal opening large, shutting with a narrow oval 
 operculum ; auditory opening large. Facial 
 disk complete; head furnished with egrets. 
 Wings long, second quill longest ; tail even ; 
 
orus. 279 
 
 legs and toes feathered to the insertion of the 
 claws ; claws moderately curved, long, sharp, 
 
 rounded beneath, except that of the centre 
 toe. 
 
 , Habits arboreal ; breed on trees in 
 extensive woods. 
 
LONG-EARED OWL. 
 
 Otus vulyaris. FLEMING. 
 
 PLATE XXXI. 
 
 Strix otns, Linn. Le Moyen Due, /??</??>.- Hibou, Moyene 
 Due, Temminck. Otus vulgaris, Flem. Brit. Animals. 
 Long-eared Owl of British ornithologists. 
 
 THE characters of this form are detailed above, 
 jmd the difference in the form of the ear and 
 external conchal opening are endeavoured to be 
 represented in the woodcut. This is an Owl 
 of strictly arboreal habits, frequenting only the 
 thickest woods, hunting on their skirts at even- 
 ing, and breeding on trees. The sombre tints 
 of the plumage, beautifully pencilled when in- 
 spected nearly, are more unobtrusive than that of 
 the White Owl, and harmonize better with the 
 seclusion of the forest. In a dull winter evening, 
 he is frequently seen abroad before. sunset; and 
 when disturbed during the day, the flight, though 
 sailing and buoyant, is bold and strong. He 
 perches openly, and when approached, you can 
 perceive his beautiful orange coloured eyes dilated, 
 brilliant, and expressive, his long egrets raised and 
 

 LONG EARED-OWL. 
 
LONG-EARED OWL. 281 
 
 depressed ; he is aware of being pursued, and a 
 second flight is taken before a very near approach 
 can be gained. This Owl generally makes use of 
 the deserted nest of the carrion crow for its breed- 
 ing-place, but we have seen it placed about half 
 way up the tree, close to the trunk, in a situation 
 where it was not likely there would be a previous 
 nest. In this instance, the fabric was quite loose, 
 and almost without any lining; anrl we think, 
 from the appearance of many nests we have exa- 
 mined, that some assistance or repair is given to 
 the old structure by the addition of some fresh 
 sticks before incubation is again commenced 
 Dr Richardson says, that in Arctic America " it 
 lays three or four roundish white eggs, sometimes 
 on the ground, at other times in the deserted nests 
 of other birds in low bushes." Four pure white 
 eggs, of a form considerably oval, are generally 
 laid, sometimes as early as the middle of March. 
 Food is most amply supplied to the young, and 
 consists principally of mice and arvicolae, occa- 
 sionally small birds.* 
 
 The Long-eared Owl is generally distributed 
 over Britain, wherever there is abundance of wood 
 and cover. In the South of Scotland, it is cer- 
 tainly the most common next to the "White Owl ; 
 
 * " It preys chiefly on quadrupeds of the genus arvicola, 
 and in summer destroys many beetles." North. Zool. ii. 
 p. 72. 
 
282 LONG-EARED OWL. 
 
 we have not yet, however, ascertained its range 
 northward. In Ireland, Mr Thompson remarks, 
 it is resident; and where a sufficient extent of 
 wood exists, as in Down and Antrim, it is a 
 common species. According to this gentleman's 
 observations, it also strays considerably from its 
 cover, being known to be shot, -in the dusk of the 
 evening, a mile from high water mark, in Belfast 
 Bay, by a person waiting in a barrel (sunk in the 
 ooze) for the flying of widgeon.* In other parts 
 of the world, the distribution is extensive. 
 
 The colouring and distribution of the markings, 
 in this species, is more akin to what we saw pre- 
 vailed in the Tawny Owl ; a chaste blending of 
 ochraceous, white, and gray, reminding one of the 
 shades which prevail among the CaprisnulgidcB. 
 The long egrets and brilliant eyes give to it also 
 u peculiar aspect, and altogether it is the most 
 striking among our native species. The ruff is 
 complete; the tips of the feathers being black, 
 shew almost a circle of that colour around to 
 the inner angle of the eyes, and folding over 
 the bill; the feathers are white, bordered with 
 black, immediately next the eye ; the outer part 
 of the disk is yellowish brown The forehead, 
 and the part immediately behind the conchal 
 opening, is finely marked with delicate undulations 
 of gray, white, and ochraceous ; the egrets are 
 
 * Mag. of Zool. and Bot. ii. p. 177. - 
 
LONG-EARED OWL. 283 
 
 generally composed of six principal feathers, gra- 
 duated in length, ochraceous towards the exterior 
 edge, grayish white on the inner, the centre deep 
 black, slightly broken into at the edges by each 
 colour. All the upper parts have a ground of 
 grayish white along the shafts of the feathers, 
 streaked with black, and barred and spotted with 
 undulating markings of ochraceous and black; 
 the secondaries become more distinctly barred, and 
 the quills, towards their base, are crossed with 
 uninterrupted bars of dull black and ochraceous 
 or tawny ; towards the tips, they become beauti- 
 fully clouded with gray and blackish brown. The 
 tail is very nearly square, the centre feathers are 
 barred irregularly, those towards the outside deci- 
 dedly crossed by black and tawny. The under parts 
 are of a rich yellowish white, tinted on the edges 
 of the feathers with ochraceous, the centre of each 
 black, breaking off in delicate and interrupted bars 
 of the same tint, particularly on the flanks and 
 lower parts of the belly. The tarsi and toes, to 
 within one or two scalings of the extremity, are 
 thickly clothed with yellowish white downy 
 feathers. Claws are long, not much hooked, or of 
 great strength ; the colour wood brown, pinkish at 
 the base during life. The irides are rich and 
 brilliant Dutch or orpiment orange* Length is from 
 thirteen to fourteen inches, and the form is not so 
 robust or muscular as in the Tawny Owl. There 
 is considerable variation in the shades of different 
 
284 LONG-EARED OWL. 
 
 individuals of the Long-eared Owl, and also IA 
 the closeness of the dark mafkings ; it is, how r ever, 
 a well marked species, and easily distinguished 
 from any of its foreign allies. The nearest in size 
 and colouring is one from Mexico, which has been 
 characterized by the Prince of Musignano. 
 
 THE only other species of this genus belonging 
 to the British Fauna is the bird commonly known 
 as the " Short-eared Owl," from the shorter rela- 
 tive length of the egrets or ears. 
 
SHORT-EARED OWL. 285 
 
 This bird, the Strix Irachyotos^ Linnaeus, Otus 
 Irachyotos, Cuvier, will stand as one of our 
 migratory or partially migratory species. In Eng- 
 land, to the sruth of Durham, it is a winter visi- 
 tant ; but tc the north of this it breeds, extending 
 to the Hebrides, where a few specimens may be 
 also seen during the winter months. In the 8vo. 
 edition of Wilson's North American Ornithology, 
 we detailed our observations on this species. Since 
 that period, we have had no opportunity of seeing 
 the birds in their breeding haunts, and we there- 
 fore now give the* substance of what we then wrote. 
 " In England it has received the name of Wood- 
 cock Owl, from appearing nearly about the same 
 time with that bird. They perhaps then do not 
 remain stationary, but are met with in their 
 migration to and from the north, similar to the 
 appearance, for a few days, of the ring-ouzels and 
 dotterels. In spring, they are seen singly or in 
 pairs, and in the fall, in small groups, the amount 
 of their broods when again retiring. They do 
 not appear to be otherwise gregarious, and it is 
 only in this way that we can account for the flock 
 of twenty-eight which Bewick records as seen 
 together in a turnip field, and the instances men- 
 tioned by Mr Selby, of five or six of these birds 
 being frequently found roosting together. In 
 the North of England and in Scotland, they will 
 
286 SHORT-EARED OWL, 
 
 rank as summer, perhaps permanent residents. 
 Hoy, and the other Hebrides, where they were 
 first discovered to breed, were considered the 
 southern limit of their incubation ; but it extends 
 much farther, and may be perhaps stated as the 
 extensive muirland ranges of Cumberland, West- 
 moreland, and Northumberland. Over all the 
 Scottish muirs it occurs in considerable abundance ; 
 there are few sportsmen who are unacquainted with 
 it ; many being killed during the grouse season, 
 and those individuals which Mr Selby mentions 
 occurring on the upland muirs, most probably bred 
 there. On the extensive muirs at the head of the 
 Dryfe, a small rivulet in Dumfries-shire, I have, 
 for many years past, met with one or two pairs of 
 these birds ; and the accidental discovery of their 
 young first turned my attention to the range of 
 their breeding ; for, previous to this, I also held 
 the opinion that they had commenced their migra- 
 tion southward. The young was discovered by 
 one of my dogs pointing it ; and in the following 
 year, by searching at the proper season, two nests 
 were found, with five eggs each. The nests were 
 formed upon the ground on the heath ; the 
 bottom scraped until the fresh earth appeared, on 
 which the eggs were placed, without any lining or 
 other accessary covering. When approaching the 
 nest or young, the old birds fly and hover round, 
 
SHORT-EARED OWL. 287 
 
 uttering a shrill cry, and snapping with their bills. 
 They will then alight at a short distance, survey 
 the aggressor, and again resume their flight and 
 cries. The young are barely able to fly by the 
 12th of August, and appear to leave the nest some 
 time before they are able to rise from the ground. 
 I have taken them, on that great day to sportsmen, 
 squatted on the heath like young black game, at 
 no great distance from each other, and always 
 attended by the parent birds. * We have since 
 occasionally observed this Owl in December and 
 January ; by no means common, however, four or 
 five specimens during five or six years ;t and it is 
 most probable that the great proportion of those 
 which breed with us return again during winter, 
 and the bird is certainly much more abundant on 
 the ranges of upland muir during summer than in 
 any locality after the breeding season has been 
 completed. Those we have seen at this season 
 have been disturbed from whin covers or patches 
 of long and tangled grass and bramble, sitting 
 close at first, but afterwards very shy and wary. 
 " In Ireland," Mr Thompson remarks, " it is one 
 
 * Wilson's North American Ornithology, edit. Sir W. 
 Jardine, ii. p. 63. Mr Hoy, in London's Magazine of 
 Natural History, mentions two localities in the south- 
 western part of Norfolk, where pairs of this bird breed. 
 
 t Mr Macgillivray mentions one near Edinburgh in De* 
 eember. 
 
288 SHORT-EARED OWL. 
 
 of our regular winter visitants in the north. Octo- 
 ber 13th is the earliest date of its occurrence to 
 me ; and I have several times shot this Owl in the 
 neighbourhood of Belfast, invariably in wet and 
 boggy places, where snipes might be expected."* 
 
 The geographical range is extensive, as we have 
 already noted ; and, next to Europe, it seems most 
 abundant on the American continent. In the 
 United States it is a winter visitant, appearing in 
 November and departing in April, t most probably 
 to some wilder district to breed; for it is a summer 
 visitant, again, in the fur countries, arriving as 
 soon as the snow disappears, and departing in 
 September. It is found as far north as lat. 67. 
 Its principal haunts are dense thickets of young 
 pine trees, and dark and entangled willow clumps, 
 where it sits in a low branch watching assiduously 
 for mice. Its nest, formed of withered grass and 
 moss, is placed on a dry spot of ground; and, 
 according to Mr Ilutchins, it lays ten or twelve 
 small round white eggs. J 
 
 In the markings of this species we have the 
 same prevalence of tawny and black, or deep 
 umber brown, which we have seen in most of the 
 preceding birds, but it is without that blended 
 very undecided and wavy character which we 
 
 * Mag. of Zool. and Bot. ii. p. 177. 
 
 t Wilson. Northern Zoology, ii. p. 75. 
 
SHORT-EARED 
 
 see so beautifully disposed in the Long- eared and 
 Tawny Owls. The head and disk are compara- 
 tively small, the latter complete ; the egrets in the 
 male are nearly an inch in length, composed of about 
 six feathers, liver brown on the centre and outer 
 edges, buff orange on the inner webs. The disk 
 around the eyes is black, extending outwards to a 
 greater or less degree in different specimens, and in 
 some reaching almost to the margin of the ruff. 
 The external half of the disk, however, is gene- 
 rally yellowish brown, the shaft of the feathers 
 black above the eyes, and where they cover the 
 bill, nearly white tinted with gray ; the very edge 
 of the disk is white, and coming in contact with 
 plumes forming the ruff, which are white at the 
 base, causes the appearance of a white circle 
 The feathers composing the ruff are white at the 
 base, mottled towards their tips with yellowish 
 orange and black, except opposite the conchal 
 opening, where they are wholly of the latter 
 colour. The upper parts are buff orange, having 
 the feathers broadly marked in the centre with 
 liver brown, sometimes having a purplish tinge ; 
 on those immediately folding over the wings 
 the marginal edgings of light are broader, often 
 approaching to yellowish white, and here forms 
 the conspicuous stripe which we have seen in most 
 of the Owls ; on the shoulders the markings are 
 
 T 
 
200 SHORT-EARED OWL. 
 
 also larger and of a purer tint, and on the secon- 
 daries they assume the form of irregular bars. 
 The quills are nearly pure white at the base of the 
 outer webs, shading into pale buff orange ; for half 
 their length nearly free from spots or bars, but 
 towards the extremity distinctly marked with 
 three or four bars of liver brown, after the fifth 
 quill they become more clouded ; the inner webs 
 are pale buff orange, clouded with liver brown 
 and gray, which becomes near the tip the prevail- 
 ing colour. The tail is pale buff orange, the feathers 
 becoming nearly pure white to the outside ; they 
 are marked with distinct bars of liver brown ; the 
 two centre feathers clouded in the pale intervals 
 with the same colour ; the outer web of the last 
 feather is often altogether spotless. The under 
 parts are pale buff orange, shading into pure white 
 on the vent and lower tail-coverts ; the throat and 
 breast broadly streaked with liver brown along 
 the centres of the feathers ; the streaks narrowing 
 in breadth on the belly and flanks, becoming 
 nearly linear on the vent, and finally disappearing 
 entirely. The interior of the wing nearly pure 
 white, on which the dark bars on the inner 
 webs appear more conspicuous and decided ; the 
 tips of the under wing-coverts are liver brown, 
 and form a lengthened spot or bar across. The 
 tarsi and feet, to within the third scale, are 
 

 BUBO. 291 
 
 covered with close and fine yellowish white downy 
 feathers. 
 
 In different specimens, the huff orange is often 
 much deeper in intensity, and of a clearer shade ; 
 in the female it prevails more on the lower parts, 
 the marking on the hack and wings is more solid 
 or massed together, and the egrets are shorter, 
 often so much so as to be scarcely visible. In a 
 Chinese specimen before us, apparently a female, 
 we have the marking remarkably bold and dis- 
 tinct, the lighter tints very vivid. 
 
 The irides bright gamboge yellow. Length 
 generally from fourteen to fifteen inches. 
 
 CUVIER has employed the title Bubo to dis- 
 tinguish those Owls which have the tarsi feathered 
 and the head adorned with egrets, as in the genus 
 Otus, but having the facial disk more imperfect and 
 the conchal opening small. He assumes for the 
 type the European Eagle Owl ; the Large Vir- 
 ginian Horned-Owl is also closely allied, and we 
 believe the form extends to Africa and India. 
 The birds are all of large size ; the habits partly 
 sylvan and nocturnal, but they breed in bleak and 
 woodless regions. When disturbed during the 
 day, they do not shew that great sensibility to 
 light which the White Owl and its congeners 
 display. 
 
292 BUBO. 
 
 BUBO, generic characters. Bill short, strong, 
 and bending from the base, edges of the man- 
 dible slightly sinuated ; nostrils large, oval ; 
 facial disk incomplete above the eyes ; head 
 furnished with egrets ; conchal opening small, 
 no operculum ? wings rather short, concave, 
 third and fourth quills longest ; legs and toes 
 feathered ; claws long, sharp. 
 
THE GREAT-EARED OWL, OR EAGLE OWL. 
 
 Bubo ma*m2tf. SJBBALD. 
 
 PLATE XXXII. 
 
 Bubo maximus nigri et fusci colons, Sibbald Sc. Illust. ii. p. 
 15. Strix bubo, Linnaus.'Le grand due, Buffon. Great- 
 eared or Horned Owl, Eagle Owl of British ornithologists. 
 .Provincially, Orkney ', Eatogle or Stock Owl. 
 
 THE description of the habits of the Eagle Owl, 
 by one who has observed it in a wild state, is 
 yet a desideratum in a history of British birds. 
 Northern Europe seems to be the stronghold of this 
 fine species ; Norway, Russia, and Germany, are 
 given by ornithologists as the countries where 
 it most abounds, but its rank, as a British species, 
 rests only on a few instances of its capture, and 
 on one or two records of its appearance, which 
 are by no means circumstantially detailed. " In 
 Orcadibus" is all that Sibbald tells us, and the 
 Orkneys have been handed down as a locality, 
 without the instances of its capture being regu- 
 larly and authentically recorded. Dr Neill, in 
 addition to the account given by Dr Barry, says, 
 " it may be added that it often attacks rabbits and 
 red grouse, which are abundant in several of the 
 
294 EAGLF. OWL. 
 
 islands," thus implying that (in 1804) the bird 
 had either been lately seen or heard of. Montague 
 states, that it has been shot in Yorkshire and 
 Sussex, also in Kent ;* and Mr Selby, in a note, 
 states, " I have been lately informed, from good 
 authority, that one of the above species was killed 
 on the upland muirs in the county of Durham 
 some years ago." In Ireland Mr Thompson has 
 not seen it, but Mr Stewart in his catalogue of the 
 birds of Donegal remarks, " Four of these birds 
 paid us a visit for two days, after a great storm 
 from the north, when the ground was covered 
 with snow ; they have not since been found here : 
 as I am informed that a pair of them breed on 
 Tory Island, about nine miles to the north of this 
 coast, it is probable that they came from that 
 island, "t 
 
 So far as we understand the habits of this bird, 
 it continues in the seclusion of the forests or 
 wooded precipices during the day, hunting in the 
 twilight, perhaps during dull weather at all times. 
 Temminck gives ruined buildings as occasionally 
 selected for its breeding places, also the clefts of 
 rocks ; Mr Hewitson mentions its nest as placed 
 on the ground in bare and bleak rocky districts ; 
 the number of eggs is said to be from two to four, 
 rarely the latter, of considerable size, pure white, 
 
 * Pennant Br. Zool. 8vo. edit. 1812, i. p.. 254. 
 f London's Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. p. 581. 
 
EAGLE OWL. 295 
 
 like those of all the Owls we are acquainted with, 
 and of a rounded form. 
 
 In confinement this bird is easily kept, and 
 becomes to a certain extent acquainted with its 
 keeper, or those immediately near it. One which 
 we kept for some years excited much interest, 
 and we shall again transcribe our note on its 
 manners. " An Eagle Owl in my possession 
 remains quiet during the day, unless he is shewn 
 some prey, when he becomes eager to possess 
 it; and when it is put within his reach, at 
 once clutches it, and retires to a corner to devour 
 at leisure. During the night he is extremely 
 active, and sometimes keeps up an incessant bark ; 
 it is so similar to that of a cur or terrier, as to 
 annoy a large Labrador house-dog, who expressed 
 his dissatisfaction by replying to him, and disturb- 
 ing the inmates nightly. I at first also mistook 
 the cry for that of a dog, and without any recol- 
 lection of the Owl, sallied forth to silence the 
 disturber of our repose, and it was not until tracing 
 the noise to the cage that I became satisfied of the 
 author of our annoyance. I have remarked that 
 he barks more incessantly during a clear night in 
 winter than at any other time ; and the thin air at 
 that season makes the cry very distinctly heard to 
 a considerable distance. This, however, is not 
 the only call ; when much annoyed either at some 
 stranger, or the appearance of any larger animal. 
 
296 EAGLE OWL. 
 
 he will utter a loud hoot or " hoo," snapping at 
 the same time loudly with the bill. " This bird 
 shews a great antipathy to dogs, and will perceive 
 one at a considerable distance ; nor is it possible to 
 distract his attention so long as the animal remains 
 in sight. When first perceived, the feathers are 
 raised, and the wings lowered as when feeding, 
 and the head moved round, following the object 
 while in sight ; if food be thrown, it will be struck 
 with the foot and held, but no farther attention is 
 at this time paid to it." * 
 
 From the characters we have given at the 
 commencement of this description, it will have 
 been seen that this bird is fully entitled to different 
 generic rank from the " eared birds" we have been 
 last describing; but the colours of the plumage, 
 consisting of black and ochraceous, or buff orange, 
 and their irregular distribution, correspond nearly 
 with the birds composing the genus Otus. This 
 is a bird of great power and strength, and during 
 the night, or when roused during the day, exhibits 
 a fierce and active appearance. The disk and 
 ruff are small and incomplete, grayish black, tinted 
 with ochraceous, and margined round the occipital 
 edges with black. The egrets, which are fully 
 two inches long, are deep black, slightly edged 
 with ochraceous yellow on the inner sides. The 
 
 * Wilson's N. A. Ornith. Edit, by Sir W. Jardine, ii. p. 257. 
 
EAGLE OWL. 297 
 
 whole upper parts, including the wings and tail, 
 have a ground shade of ochraceous yellow, with 
 the centre of the feathers black, which broadens 
 at the tips, and at the sides is shaded off in light 
 wary mottles of a similar tint. On the greater 
 coverts and secondaries the markings assume the 
 form of indistinct bars from their greater crowding, 
 while along the shaft the dark colour is con- 
 tinuous. The quills on the inner webs are of a 
 brighter tint of ochraceous, and are there crossed 
 with distinct narrow bars of black ; on the outer 
 w r ebs, the bars, though distinct, are yellowish 
 brown, clouded with a darker shade, and gene- 
 rally edged next the ground colour with an irre- 
 gular darker margin; towards the tips the dark 
 colour predominates, and is there mingled' with 
 gray. The ground colour of the tail is paler 
 than that of. the quills, and it is crossed with 
 mottled bars of brownish black ; the pale spaces 
 towards the tips, and on the centre feathers, being 
 also thinly mottled ; on the inner webs the bars 
 are very narrow. When viewed from the lower 
 side it is much paler in colour, the bars appear all 
 narrow, and the mottling on the intermediate 
 spaces scarcely appears. On the under parts of the 
 body the same ochraceous tint prevails ; the chin is 
 white; on the throat, breast, and belly, the feathers 
 are broadly streaked with black, which breaks off 
 to the sides in interrupted bars; on the other 
 
298 SCOPS 
 
 parts of the belly, vent, flanks, and under tail- 
 coverts, the shaft is black, and the feather is 
 crossed with numerous irregular bars of brownish 
 black, nine or ten sometimes being counted on 
 one feather. The tarsi and toes are clothed as 
 in Oto, and are crossed with indistinct bars of 
 brownish black. The irides are brilliant and 
 bronzed orange. Length of the male about 
 twenty-two inches. 
 
 THE genus Scops, Savigny, forms a beautiful 
 little group, which seems distributed over Europe, 
 Asia, and parts of Africa ; it is composed of indi- 
 viduals distinguished by their small size, their 
 imperfect disk, egrets on the head, very thin 
 lengthened legs, and soft plumage. Habits are 
 arboreal and nocturnal. 
 
 SCOPS, generic characters. Bill curved from the 
 base, weak; nostrils round ; facial disk very in- 
 complete, wanting above the eyes ; head with 
 egrets ; conchal opening very small ; wings 
 long, third quill longest, first and second 
 slightly cut in near the tip of the inner webs ; 
 tail short, even, or slightly rounded ; legs 
 rather long > feathered with short plumes tc 
 the insertion of the toes ; toes reticulated, 
 except the extremity of the first joint. 
 

QQQ 
 
 THE SCOPS-EARED OWL. 
 
 Soops Aldrovatidi WILLOUGHBY 
 
 PLATE XXXIII. 
 
 Scops Aldrovandi, Willoughby. Strix scops, Linnaeus. 
 Hibou scops, Temminck. Scops-eared Owl of British 
 ornithologists. 
 
 THE Scops eared Owl is a very rare British 
 visitant, being principally found in the southern 
 districts of Europe, and even there it is migratory, 
 appearing only in the summer months, and in 
 France arriving and departing with the swallow. 
 The instances of its capture in Britain are not 
 very well recorded. There is a specimen in the 
 Foljambe collection, which was believed to be shot 
 in Yorkshire ; Mr Fothergill of York has another, 
 which was shot in the spring of 1805, near 
 Weatherby, in the same county;* Mr Selby gives 
 his representation from a specimen said to be 
 killed in the vicinity of London, and mentions in 
 a note having seen a specimen killed near York, in 
 the possession of Mr Bewick,t and it is stated to 
 
 * Montague Orn. Diet. Supp, App. 
 f British Ornith. i. p. 93. 
 
300 SCOPS-EAKfcD OWL. 
 
 breed in " Castle Edendene," near Stockton- on- 
 Tees.* 
 
 Its habits from observation we cannot detail ; 
 from all accounts it seems most abundant, and has 
 been most observed in Italy. Spalanzani is among 
 the first who detailed its habits, and gives its 
 favourite residence as lower wooded regions. Mr 
 'W. Spence, who has noticed it more lately, and in 
 a notice in London's Magazine, observes that one 
 established itself in the garden belonging to his 
 house at Florence, where it constantly uttered its 
 cry from night -fall to mid -night, at intervals be- 
 tween each other as regular as the ticking of a 
 pendulum.t 
 
 It is impossible to convey by words an idea 
 of the beautiful penciling on the plumage of this 
 little species. It is a delicate blending of smoke 
 gray, chestnut, and yellowish brown, streaked, 
 barred, and speckled with black. On the upper 
 parts the dark markings run along the shaft diva- 
 ricating into ragged bars ; on the breast and belly 
 they are broad streaks along the shafts, the feathers 
 otherwise mottled with zigzag bars of the same 
 colour ; the egrets are composed of several feathers 
 with dark centres ; the ruff is yellowish white at 
 the base, becoming ochraceous and tipped with 
 black ; the disk surrounding the eyes, and com- 
 
 * Yarreirs Br. Birds. 
 
 f LoudoiVs Mag. of Nat, Hist. v. p. 654. 
 
SURNIA. 301 
 
 posing the face, is smoke gray, very delicately 
 penciled with brown. The feathers on the back 
 which immediately lie over the wings, are rich 
 yellowish white, with dark edges and tips, and 
 form a conspicuous mark as in the Tawny Owl. 
 The secondaries have an oval white spot on the 
 outer web of each, which forms an interrupted 
 bar across the wing. The quills are mottled with 
 brown, or pale yellowish, or grayish brown, on the 
 inner webs having bars formed by the markings 
 being darker, more solid, and more arranged as 
 blotches ; on the outer webs interrupted by alter- 
 nate bars of white, generally edged with a deeper 
 shade. The tail is very slightly rounded, barred 
 alternately with a mottled space, one of a deeper 
 tint, and more clouded arrangement, and one of 
 yellowish or reddish white. The tarsi are covered 
 with narrow yellowish white feathers, streaked 
 with brown down the centre ; feet are of a bluish 
 yellow ; claws horn colour. Irides are described 
 to be of king's yellow. Length from crown of 
 head to extremity of tail about seven inches and 
 a half; from same point to end of quills, about 
 eight inches. 
 
 THE genus Surnia^ Dumeril, exhibits the form 
 which leads from the nocturnal, again to tfie 
 diurnal, birds of prey. The form is very powerful ; 
 the head small, the ruff nearly wanting, the facial 
 
302 SURNIA. 
 
 disk small, and placed with a more lateral inclina- 
 tion ; the plumage more rigid, and the wings 
 formed for pursuing flight. Birds hunt by day as 
 well as during the twilight. 
 
 SURNIA, generic characters. Bill short but 
 strong, slightly sinuated, and compressed up- 
 wards at the base ; nostrils oval, and placed 
 obliquely ; disk small, retracting laterally ; 
 ruff nearly wanting ; conchal opening small ; 
 no operculum ; wings of mean length, rigid, 
 third quill longest, three or four first deeply 
 notched ; legs and toes muscular, thickly 
 clothed with long plumes, having cetaceous 
 webs ; claws long, sharp, much incurved and 
 slender towards the ti$s ; plumage rigid. 
 
SNOWY OW'U 
 
 Surnia nyctea. SELBY. 
 
 PLATE XXXIV. 
 
 Strix nyctea, Gmel. La chouette Harfang, Buflfon, Temmwck* 
 Man. cT Ornith Snowy Owl of British ornithologists. 
 
 THIS magnificent species is of very rare occur- 
 rence on the mainland of the British islands, being 
 more particularly a native of the countries verging 
 upon the arctic circle, whence it reaches to our 
 own more northern islands, and whence, again, 
 occasional stragglers have been captured in the 
 interior of Britain and Ireland. Mr Bullock, in 
 1812, during his tour to Orkney and Shetland, 
 met with this species, and seems to have been the 
 first to have directed our attention to the fact -of 
 their being resident and breeding there. He first 
 met with the species among the sand-hills of 
 Orkney, to which they had resorted for the sake 
 of preying on the rabbits, and afterwards succeeded 
 in procuring specimens on Unst in Shetland, and 
 ascertaining that it bred there and on the island 
 of Zell. Mr Edmonstone, about the same period, 
 
304 SNOWY OWL. 
 
 presented a specimen to Mr Bullock, which per- 
 haps had induced that gentleman to search for it 
 himself; and since its discovery there, several 
 specimens have heen procured, some of which are 
 now in the Edinburgh Museum, and others in 
 private collections. One of the latest captures 
 was sent alive to Dr Neill, Canonmills, in whose 
 garden it spent some months. In England, 
 the instances of its capture are more rare. 
 Montague mentions a specimen in possession of 
 Mr Bullock, which was understood to have been 
 killed in the vicinity of Norwich; and the col- 
 lection at Twizel House possesses two specimens, 
 which were killed near Rothhury, in Northum- 
 berland, during the winter of 1823. In February 
 last a fine male was shot below Selby-on-the- 
 Moor in Yorkshire.* In Ireland, it has been 
 more frequently seen. Mr Thompson comnra- 
 tiicated the capture of one to the Zoological 
 Society in 1835, of which he has now enabled us 
 to give a more full account. " About the 26th 
 of March, 1835, a specimen of this bird was sent 
 in a recent state to Dr Adams of Portglenone, by 
 a person who had shot it a few days before in that 
 neighbourhood, and who stated that a similar indi- 
 vidual had been seen about the place where it was 
 obtained/' Other specimens have also been seen. 
 
 * See notice in No. VII. of Mag. of Zool. and Bot. ii. p. 95. 
 
SNOWY OWL. 305 
 
 On the 21st of the same month, as two of my 
 friends were out snipe shooting at Bruslee, about 
 twenty miles to the south-east of Portglenone, a 
 large white Owl, represented by them as twice 
 the size of the common species of that colour, rose 
 from the heath within a few yarda of one of them, 
 who had just discharged both his barrels at a 
 snipe. In Dublin, I subsequently saw a Snowy 
 Owl which had been shot in the County of Mayo, 
 also in the month of March; and am credibly 
 informed that a few others were obtained about 
 the same time in different parts of Ireland. One 
 may be mentioned as having been received from 
 the county of Longford, on the 5th April, by a 
 bird preserver."* 
 
 In Europe, the Snowy Owl is found also in 
 Norway, Sweden, and Lapland, but nowhere abun- 
 dant, and Temminck records it as an occasional 
 visitant to the North of Germany. In North 
 America it seems more plentiful; Wilson men- 
 tions having examined eleven specimens within 
 fifteen months, shot in various parts of the United 
 States, and is of opinion that a few remain through 
 the summer in the more northern inland parts, 
 where they are most numerous during winter. t 
 Dr Richardson says that it frequents, " in summer, 
 the most remote arctic lands that have been visited, 
 
 * Mag. of Zook and Bot. ii. p. 179. 
 
 J- Wilson's North American Ornithology. 
 
 U 
 
306 SNOWY OWL, 
 
 but retires with the ptarmigan, on which it preys, 
 to more sheltered districts in winter." It has been 
 " now and then known to wander as far south as 
 Florida."* 
 
 Mr Edmonstone's description of the habits in 
 a wild state appears the most complete we have 
 yet read, and is taken from observation. 
 
 It rests generally beneath some stony projec- 
 tion, which protects it from the direct influence of 
 the sun ; and some instances have occurred of its 
 being surprised asleep during the day, and for- 
 feiting its life to its supineness. 
 
 Its form and manner are highly elegant; its 
 flight less buoyant, and more rapid, than that of 
 the other Owls ; and the superior boldness and 
 activity of its disposition, the uncommon size of 
 its talons, and vigour of its limbs, secure it against 
 danger from feathered enemies. 
 
 It affects solitary, stony, and elevated districts, 
 which, by the similarity to it in colour of the 
 rocks, render it difficult to be discovered, and by 
 the inequalities of their surface, afford it shelter 
 from the rays of the sun ; but on the approach of 
 twilight, it may be seen perching on the exposed 
 eminences. It then quits its haunts and frequents 
 the cultivated fields, prowling over the low grounds 
 in quest of mice and small birds When first 
 
 * Northern Zoology, ii. p. 88. 
 
SNOWY OWL. 30? 
 
 oLserved to leave its retreat, it is frequently as- 
 sailed by crows and other birds; but it receives 
 their attacks rather as an amusement than an 
 annoyance, and dashes through the air, despising 
 their hostility. 
 
 It preys chiefly on sandpipers, on which it 
 pounces with precision and agility as it skims 
 along the marshes. The specimen given to Mr 
 Bullock's museum had an entire one in its stomach 
 when I shot it, and a mouse perfectly whole was 
 taken from that of the present specimen.* 
 
 Dr Neil has kindly furnished us with the notes 
 which he kept of the habits of the specimen 
 alluded to at page 304. This bird continued for 
 a year and a half in his possession vigorous and 
 healthy. 
 
 ' In the beginning of May, 1835, 1 received, at 
 Canonmills Cottage, a live specimen of the Snowy 
 Owl (Syrnia nyctea.} It came in a sort of crib 
 by a trading vessel from Orkney, and arrived in 
 tolerably good plight. A letter from Robert 
 Scarth, Esq. of Skae in Sanda, informed me, that 
 * about the middle of the preceding month of 
 April, a very heavy north-wester had set in, with 
 showers of hail and cold sleet. A large bevy of 
 rooks, snow-flakes, sw r ans, golden-eye ducks, and 
 other northern strangers, were driven by this storm 
 
 * Trans. \Vern. Society, Vol. IV. i. p. 158. 
 
SNOW* OWL. 
 
 to the island (of Sanda.) A day or two after- 
 wards, a large owl was remarked prowling about 
 the rabbit links (or warrens.)' Mr Scarth con- 
 cluded, from the size and appearance, that it must 
 be the Snowy Owl, a rare visitant, not a regular 
 inhabitant, of the Orkneys. He therefore dili- 
 gently followed the bird till he got within shot, 
 when he fortunately hit one wing, so as to disable 
 from flying, but without other injury. The bird 
 fluttered along the downs, and, when brought to 
 bay, made a stout resistance. It was, however, 
 secured; and the wound having healed, the spe- 
 cimen was despatched to me as already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 " It was pretty evidently a young bird, or only 
 in its second year, being much spotted and barred 
 with brown. I therefore entertained little doubt 
 of taming it to a considerable extent. I got a 
 very large cage, or rather small house, expressly 
 constructed for it, in which the bird could either 
 squat on the ground or perch aloft, and with a 
 boarded chamber in which it could seclude itself 
 from the light. The care of it was confided to 
 my very intelligent and respectable gardener, Mr 
 William Lawson, (now nurseryman and florist 
 near Glasgow,) who paid every attention to it. 
 It was at first exceedingly timid and shy, and 
 often fasted for twenty-four hours although meat 
 was placed within its reach. For several weeks, 
 
SNOWY OWL. 309 
 
 therefore, the gardener fed it hy literally forcing 
 the meat down its throat. The food was bullock's 
 liver, or any kind of hutcherVmeat, and occasion- 
 ally a pigeon or rabbit cut in small pieces. 
 
 " During the summer and autumn of 1835 it 
 moulted, and the new plumage was a good deal 
 lighter, or less speckled and barred than formerly. 
 From this change of colour, and from recollection 
 of the relative size and appearance of the sexes in 
 museums, I concluded that the bird was a male. 
 Mr Audubon, the celebrated American ornitholo- 
 gist, happening to visit Canonmills in the course 
 of the season, saw the bird, and, from his intimate 
 knowledge of the same species in North America, 
 at once confirmed our conjecture as to its being an 
 immature male. 
 
 " I must confess that we did not succeed in 
 taming the owl to the extent which we at first 
 expected. He always remained rather shy and 
 suspicious. What was remarkable, he would 
 allow a live mouse or sparrow to be placed in the 
 cage beside him without touching the tempting 
 prey, at least in our presence. He evidently 
 recognized Mr Lawson and myself, and was little 
 moved at our appearance ; but on the approach of 
 a stranger, he opened his mouth, and hissed, or 
 fuffed Kke a cat, keeping his mouth open as long 
 as the intruder remained near. If much alarmed, 
 or suddenly surprised, he produced a snapping 
 
310 SNOWY OWL. 
 
 noise or clank, by striking the two mandibles 
 together. The gardener could put his fingers into 
 the owl's mouth, without having them nipped, or 
 without the bird's attempting to bite. Perhaps 
 this was the result of habit or education, from Mr 
 Lawson having daily fed him in that mode for 
 some weeks. But the claws were evidently the 
 principal offensive weapons on which the animal 
 depended, and they were sharp, dangerous, and 
 powerful. Mr Lawson observed that, latterly, 
 when he got a favourite piece of meat, he trans- 
 fixed it, and held it firm with the claw of the 
 back or inner toe, in the manner of our Vulture 
 ( Cathartes papa) ; not with the fore- toes and claws 
 like our Eagle (Falco albidlla). Mr Audubox 
 mentioned, that a Snowy Owl, kept in confine- 
 ment by him, used to feed on small fishes, or pieces 
 of fish, placed in water, but our bird declined that 
 sort of food. On one occasion the gardener forced 
 a small fish down his throat, and next day the 
 bones were vomited in the form of a pellet, being 
 the only instance in w r hich we observed this cir- 
 cumstance. When a pigeon was given to him, we 
 had to pluck off the feathers before he would 
 touch it. 
 
 " The hoot of our Owl consisted of two notes, 
 somewhat resembling the call of the cuckoo, but 
 shorter or quicker. He also occasionally uttered 
 a single unharmonious note, not unlike the croak- 
 
SNOWY-OWL. 311 
 
 ing of a large frog. He did not appear to be in 
 the least distressed by the light. The shaded 
 apartment was an unnecessary precaution, for he 
 never entered it during the day ; indeed, he was 
 rather more lively in the morning than in the 
 afternoon, staring abroad with his bright orange 
 eyes at all that was passing. The Snowy Owl 
 may therefore be set down as a diurnal species, or 
 belonging to the Accipitrine family of Temminck." 
 The birds killed in Northumberland frequented 
 a wild and rocky part of the open moor, and were 
 generally seen perched on the snow, or on some 
 large stone projecting from it.* Dr Richardson 
 <*ays that " it hunts in the day. When seen on the 
 jarren grounds, it was generally squatting on the 
 earth, but if put up, alighted again after a short 
 flight, but was always so wary as to be approached 
 with great difficulty. It preys on lemings, hares, 
 and birds, particularly the willow grouse and ptar- 
 migan. I have seen it pursue the American hare 
 on the wing, making repeated strokes at the 
 animal with its foot."t "Wilson mentions it feed- 
 ing on carrion occasionally, which he has perhaps 
 borrowed from the account of Hearne, and he 
 also corroborates the account of its hunting by 
 day, and records the bird as a fisher. " He is 
 particularly fond of frequenting the shores and 
 
 * Illust. British Ornith. i. p. 98. 
 f North. 2ool. ki. p. U9. 
 
812 SJNCWY OL. 
 
 banks of shallow rivers, over the surface of which 
 he slowly sails, or sits on a rock a little raised 
 above the water, watching for fish. These he 
 seizes with a sudden and instantaneous stroke of 
 the foot, seldom missing his aim."* By some, 
 the nest is described as built on the ledges of pre- 
 cipitous rocks. Dr Richardson says, " it makes 
 its nest on the ground, and lays three or four white 
 eggs/' The nest may be differently placed in 
 different localities ; thus the same author records 
 the Long-eared Owl as sometimes breeding on the 
 ground in North America. 
 
 The plumage of this Owl will be shortly de- 
 scribed, the adult birds in the full breeding 
 plumage having a much greater proportion of 
 white. In almost all states, however, except that 
 of the nestling plumage, the face, throat, under 
 sides of the wings, and legs, are pure white ; the 
 plumes clothing the face, and covering the base of 
 the bill, have the webs much disunited, and are 
 long and rather rigid; the nostrils, and almost 
 all except the tip of the bill, is concealed, and 
 under the chin, the feathers close to the under 
 mandible fold up, and in a manner half to conceal 
 it also; those covering and behind the ears, are 
 remarkably close, somewhat downy, and form a 
 snft and close protection. The whole plumage 
 
 * Wilson's North American Ornithology. 
 
SNOWY OWL. 313 
 
 is pure white, having the tips of the feathers 
 brownish black or black, and the rest of the 
 feathers crossed with decided bars of the same 
 colour ; on the inner webs of the wings, the bars 
 are incomplete, and are only marked next the 
 quill ; on the tail, they are often wanting en the 
 outer feathers. In the males, the plumage has 
 fewer barred markings, and they are of a deeper 
 black, the head and upper portion of the back and 
 neck being sometimes nearly without them ; in 
 the female, the markings assume a tint of brown. 
 The tarsi and feet are thickly clothed with plumes, 
 having the webs unconnected, and assuming the 
 form of thin bristles ; they often entirely conceaV 
 the hinder claw, and when the bird is at rest, 
 nothing but the tips of the claws are visible. The 
 irides are gamboge yellow. The dimensions of a 
 female killed by Mr Edmonstone was, in the 
 extent of the wings, five feet five inches; the 
 weight five pounds. 
 
 A female in our own collection, from Orkney, 
 is in length, from the crown to the end of the tail, 
 about twenty-five inches. 
 
 It is by blending the manners of this bird with 
 those of the true Hawk Owls, in conjunction with 
 their form, that we are brought back to a close 
 reunion with the true diurnal Raptores ; and 
 we have another bird only to mention, which 
 
314 
 
 HAWK OWL. 
 
 has been placed with them, but of whose real 
 station we are not at present quite certain. This 
 has very slender claims to a place in our present 
 volume ; but as it does not reach very near to our 
 boundaries, we have deemed it proper, in conclu- 
 sion, shortly to notice it. 
 
 The HAWK OWL, Surnia 9 funerea, whose 
 form we have endeavoured to represent in the 
 accompanying wood-cut, is recorded to have 
 
HAWK OWL. 
 
 315 
 
 been taken a few miles off the coast of Cornwall, 
 on board a collier, in a very exhausted state. It 
 was brought safely to land, and survived for some 
 weeks. It is a species not uncommon in Northern 
 Europe, and it would not be surprising that indi- 
 viduals should occasionally stray to the shores of 
 Britain, as well as those other small migratory 
 species which are only rare stragglers. It is also 
 an inhabitant of North America, particularly in 
 the fur countries. In form it is more lengthened 
 and hawk-like than any we have yet described, 
 it frequently flies by day, and is frequently shot by 
 the Hudson Bay hunters when in pursuit of the 
 ptarmigans. 
 
ri 
 
 L