. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . r J. Sebrights Observations on hawking, published in 1326, will bestillustrate its present condition. The village of Falconswaerd, near Bois le Due, in Holland, has for manyyears furnished falconers to the rest of Europe. I have known many falcon-ers in England, and in the service of different persons on the continent; butI never met with one of them who was not a native Falconswaerd. It hasbeen the practice of these industrious and sober men, to stay with their
. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . r J. Sebrights Observations on hawking, published in 1326, will bestillustrate its present condition. The village of Falconswaerd, near Bois le Due, in Holland, has for manyyears furnished falconers to the rest of Europe. I have known many falcon-ers in England, and in the service of different persons on the continent; butI never met with one of them who was not a native Falconswaerd. It hasbeen the practice of these industrious and sober men, to stay with their em-ployers during the season for hawking, and to pass the remainder of theyear with their families at home. What is known in the United States by the name of the great footed orduck hawk, is probably the same species known in Europe by the name ofthe peregrine falcon. It is said to attack ducks, and wild geese, strikingthem down with the projecting bone of its breast. According to Mr Audu-bon, it is more common in this country than formerly. It flies with aston-ishing rapidity ; its nests are built in cedar swamps. THE MERLIN*. Is in size little larger than the European blackbird, and is consequently thesmallest of the hawk kind. Its bill is blue; the cere and irides are yellow;the head is of a rust color, streaked with black, and edged with rust color jthe quill feathers are dark, tipped and margined in the inner webs with 1 Falco cesalon, Tem AVES—MERLIN. 433 reddish white ; the breast and belly are of a yellowish white, with streaksof rusty brown pointing downwards; the tail is long, and marked withalternate dusky and pale bars ; the wings, when closed, do not reach quiteto the end of the tail; the legs are yellow, and clawrs black. Small as it is, this bird is not inferior in courage to any of the falcontribe. It was formerly used for taking larks, partridges, and quails, whichit would frequently kill by a single blow, striking them on the breast, head,or neck. It differ
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