“Of all our diurnal birds of prey, falcons are the most courageous and the best equipped for flying. As a distinctive characteristic they have a sharp tooth on each side of the tip of the beak, which itself is very powerful and curves downward in a notable manner from the very outset. Their wings are pointed at the tip and when folded they extend beyond or at least as far as the end of the tail. All falcons soar in their flight when hunting. To this class belong the common falcon, the hobby, and the merlin. “The common falcon, which is as large as a hen, can be recognized by a sort of mustache or black spot it has on each cheek. Its back is of a dark ashen hue crossed by narrow stripes of a still deeper shade; the throat and breast are pure white, with black markings running lengthwise; the stomach and thighs are light gray tinged with blue and striped with black; and the tail shows alternate stripes of dingy white and of black. The beak is blue with a black tip, and the eyes and legs are a beautiful yellow. But it should be added that the plumage of the common falcon varies a good deal with age, and not until the bird is three or four years old does it agree with the description I have just given. “The summits of the wildest and loftiest crags are the falcon’s home, whence it goes forth to hunt pigeons, quails, partridges, chickens, and ducks. It rises and soars some time in the air, searching for its victims, and then swoops down upon them like a missile hurled from the sky. With astonishing boldness it makes its way into the farmer’s pigeon-cotes and chases the pigeons themselves under the very eyes of passers-by, in the middle of crowded streets. It will even snatch partridges from before the hunter’s rifle and from under the hunting-dog’s nose. Its cry is strong and piercing, and it flies unwearied at the rate of twenty leagues an hour for hundreds of leagues; but its walk is jerky and awkward because its hooked claws, furnished with long and recurved nails, rest insecurely on the ground. The falcon nests on the southern face of rocky precipices, the nest itself being clumsily built and holding three or four eggs of a reddish hue spotted with brown. “The hobby is smaller than the common falcon. It is brown above and whitish beneath, with thighs and the lower part of the stomach red. Its boldness is equaled only by the falcon’s, for it gives chase to larks and quails even when the hunter is in the act of shooting them, and dashes into the midst of the fowler’s net to seize the decoy birds. It perches on tall trees and nests in their branches. Its eggs are whitish with a few red spots. “The merlin is the smallest of the diurnal birds of prey, being scarcely larger than a thrush. It is brown on the back, and whitish with brown spots underneath. Its nest, which is seldom found in our part of the country, is built in the hollow of a rock and contains five or six whitish eggs marbled at the larger end with brown and dingy green.