172 ISioviTATES ZooLonicAE XXII. 1916. 



however, no allies lire fouutl, accordiiiji; to Erianger's own list, as lie (cf. ]). 3ft0) 

 placed " Falco minor" which he wrongly confused with Temmiuck'a jiclegrinoi(li>x, 

 iu another gronp. 



The real discovery of this Falcon as a resident on the Canary Islands is dne to 

 (!ai)tain Polatzek. dabrera had one specimen, and therefore thought it was an 

 irregular straggler. Meade-Waldo mentioned it under the name of " Falco 

 hitrbiiriis,^'' but he had only seen it from a distance, and therefore his identification 

 was only guesswork. Polatzek has, with much loss of time and great perseverance, 

 collected several specimens, of which the Tring Museum possesses four, evidently 

 all which the collector obtained. A fine adult female was shot on Fuertaventura 

 on June 27, 1902, an adult male on June 22, ]St04, and a young female in much 

 worn jilumage on May 13 of the same year. An adult female was shot on 

 Lanzarote on November 12, 1904. Polatzek saw a nest on Lanzarote, and he 

 observed the species on Montana Clara, where, years after, it was seen by 

 Mr. Baunermann, who also procured a fine specimen on Lanzarote. 



By some nnexplainable oversight I have, in Vot/. d. pal. Fauna, ii. p. 1053, 

 omitted the Canary Islands as a habitat of F. p. pelegrinoiJes, though specimens 

 and notes were lying before me on the table when I wrote. 



The habits of this fine Falcon are in every way those of a Peregrine. In Algeria 

 I have seen it carrying a Wood-pigeon and chasing Rock-doves, and it is saiil 

 to be a great enemy of Cucrabis. On the eastern Canary Islands Polatzek saw it 

 chasing and striking, or otherwise ascertained as its food, wild and tame j)igeon8, 

 sandgronse, domestic fowl, and a kestrel. 



I copy the following untranslated detailed note from one of Polatzek's labels of 

 the adult male : " Oberschnabel : 8pitze nnd Zahu schwiirzlichblan, nach riickwiirts 

 in Blau iibergehend, noch weiter nach hinten in gelb iibergehend ; Unterschnabel : 

 Spitze dunkelblau, nach riickwiirts lichter, seitlich gelblich, riickwiirts mattgelb. 

 Wachshaut orangegelb. Iris matt, sehr dnnkelbrann. Augenlid orange. Fiisse 

 orangegelb." 



6. Falco peregrinus babylonicus Scl. 



Fuko labt/hnilciis Sclater, Ibis 18G1, pp. iI.S-20, pi. \ ii. (Oudh, Babylonia, ? Abyssinia). (Types 

 in the Norwich Sluseum compared by Neumann and myself). 



(Generally Gurney is quoted as the author of the n.ame hiihiiloniciin, but not correctly ; the 

 " author '' of a species is, of course, the person who " distinguished " it or gave a diagnosis of 

 it. In the article mentioned above (p. 218) Irby says : " Mr. Sclater kindly supplied me with 

 the following remarks on this hitherto undescribed bird." Then follows a description by 

 Sclater, in which he .says ; " Mr. Gurney proposes to use the name Falro hidit/l'tiiicu.t^ the tirst 

 specimen having been obtained in Babylonia by the Euphrates E.xploring Expedition.'' 

 Farther on he says : " Besides Capt. Irby's specimen I am acquainted with the following 

 individuals." Sclater is, therefore, the author, notwithstanding that Gurney had suggested 

 to him the name htihyluniviix). 



Sclater, (iurney, Irby, and ISharpe were perfectly right iu separating this form 

 from what they called " barharus" though it is the nearest ally to the latter, i.e. 

 om pelegrinoides. Blanford {Fauna Brit. India, Birds, iii. p. 417, 1895) and Dresser 

 {Man. Pal. B., p. 540, 1902) united it with their ^^ barbants," and Kleinschmidt 

 called it " schwer definierbar,'' and mentions of its characteristics only the greater 

 extent of red on the head. Iu fact, /''. p. babijlonicux differs also constantly and 

 strikingly by the narrower and less black streak on the sides of the head, and 

 generall}- — at least in freshly moulted birds — by the lighter bluish-grey colour of 

 the npperside ; this character is, however, not so distinct in females, which are 



