414 FALCONID. 
short and stiff, with more or less tapering rectrices. Feet strong, rather short, the 
tarsus shorter than the tibia, feathered more or less extensively, elsewhere irregularly 
reticulate in small pattern varying with the genera or subgenera; never scutellate in 
single series before or behind. Middle toe very long; talons very strong.” 
FALCO. 
Falco, Linnzeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 124 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 374 (1874). 
Of this genus, in its widest sense, about forty species are known, including all the 
true Falcons, the Hobbies, and the Merlins; and if the Gyr-Falcons (Tierofaico), to 
which Dr. Bowdler Sharpe considers Falco mexicanus to belong, are added, the number 
recognized would be more than fifty. This large assemblage of Birds of Prey is 
represented by species in every quarter of the globe, Peregrines and Hobbies being 
found in all the zoological regions, while Merlins and Gyr-Falcons breed more to the 
northward, the latter being resident, while the Merlins are known as migrants to 
temperate regions in winter. 
All members of the genus Falco, whether large or small, have powerful feet and 
talons, with the outer toe longer than the inner one, the Gyr-Falcons alone having the 
outer and inner toe about equal in length. 
1. Falco peregrinus. 
Falco peregrinus, Tunstall, Orn. Brit. p. 1°. 
Falco anatum, Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 219’; Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 158°; Dugés, La Nat. 1. 
p. 138%. 
Falco peregrinus, var. anatum, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 300°. 
Falco peregrinus anatum, Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. x. p. 577°; Bendire, Life Hist. N, Amer. 
Birds, i. p. 292, t. 10. figs. 5-77; Fisher, Bull. U.S. Dep. Agr. no. 3, p. 106, t. 15°; Nelson, 
N. Amer. Fauna, no. 14, p. 38 (1899)’. 
Falco peregrinus, var. nigriceps, Grayson, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. xiv. p. 268”. 
Falco communis, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 876”. 
Supra pulchre cinereus, plumis plerisque schistaceo-nigro fasciatis; pileo saturate cinereo concolore, rhachidibus 
plumarum vix nigro indicatis ; interscapulio saturatiore et latius nigro transfasciatim notato ; remigibus 
nigricantibus, extus cinereo lavatis, intus pallide cineraceo fasciatim notatis; cauda cinerea, albido 
terminata et fasciis interruptis nigris regulariter notata, fascia nigra subterminali latiore; loris et 
fronte basali albidis; facie laterali genisque nigris, regione parotica postica cinereo lavata; macula 
suboculari alba; colli lateribus, genis anticis et gastro toto albidis, hoc plus minusve rubido lavato ; 
pectore maculis paucis nigris linearibus vel sagittiformibus punctulato ; pectoris lateribus et hypochondriis 
tibiisque cinereo adumbratis et regulariter nigro fasciatis; subcaudalibus fulvescenti-albis ; subalaribus 
et axillaribus albis, nigro fasciatis: rostro cyanescente, apicem versus nigro; cera et rictu lete flavis, 
regione orbitali nuda pallidiore ; pedibus pallide flavis, unguibus nigris; iride saturate brunnea. Long. 
tota circa 16:0, alee 11:7, caude 5:65, culm. 1:0, tarsi 1-8. (Descr. maris ex Corpus Christi, Texas. 
Mus. nostr.) 
9fad. mari similis, sed major, saturatior, cauda distincte 10-fasciata; corpore subtus magis rubescente, 
fasciis nigris fortius indicatis. Long. tota 19-0, ale 13°6. (Descr. femine ex Guadalajara. Mus. 
nostr.) 
