NoVITATES ZOOLOGICAB XXII. 1915. 173 



generally darker. The greater amount, of red on the head is also striking, but it 

 varies greatly ; sometimes the red extends almost over the whole crown, which has 

 merely a brown spot in the centre. Between this extreme and tyi'ical pelegrinoicles 

 all intergradations can be found, but every specimen of babijlonicus has more red 

 than any jjelcgrinoides. In all other points babylonicus agrees with pelegrinoides. 

 It is a mistake to associate bahjlonicus with the group of biarmicus and tanypterus ; 

 it is an ally of the Peregrines, and closely allied to pelegrinoides. 



Tiiis bird is found from Turkestan to the desert of Gobi (teste Koslow), to 

 Mesopotamia, Persia and Baluchistau. In winter it is not very rare in North-West 

 India. A. E. Brehm shot a male at Luxor in Egypt on March 9, 1852 ; Koenig 

 a female at Oschematto, not far from Dongola, on February 19, 1903, which 

 Koenig and I consider to belong to babijlonicus. Though pdeqrinoides is the 

 bird nesting in Egypt, there is no reason why babi/lonicus should not stray there 

 in winter. 



7. Falco peregrinus minor Schleg. 



Falco mhinr Sehlegel, Ahfi. Geh. Zool. it- Vergl. A,iat. 2 Heft, iii. p. 20 (about 1844 -Cape of 

 Good Hope). 



(For names which cannot be used for this form and further details about synonymy see 

 Voff. pill. Fiuiiui, ii. p. lO&n.) 



Very closely allied to F. p. brookei, but diflers as follows : Head and upper back 

 are, as a rule, still darker, rump and upper tail-coverts generally more distinctly 

 barred with black. There is, in the specimens which we have been able to examine, 

 no reddish patch on the nape, though, when oue lifts the nape-feathers, a reddish hue 

 is often discernible. The underside is more or less pale reddish, the sides distinctly 

 grey. Generally smaller than brookei : d ad. Zanzibar (Tring Museum) : wing 

 274 mm. (not 173 as said by Erlanger) ; t? ad. Songea : wing 287 (not 187) ; Stanley 

 Pool, Congo : wing 282 ; " Uape of Good Hope," ex Verreaux, locality, therefore, 

 possibly inexact (in Norwich Museum) : wing 275 ; <S ad. breeding, Fazogli, 

 4. v. 1911, A. L. Butler coll.: wing 275 mm. iSchilliugs shot a young bird in 

 Masailand (Berlin Museum). Young birds appear to be lighter underneath than 

 those oi brookei. This form nests iu tropical Africa, north to Fazogli on the Bine 

 Nile (A. L. Butler), and in South Africa. Dresser and others formerly believed 

 that the Peregrines nesting in Asia Minor belonged to this form ; but that is not 

 the case : they are F. p. brookei, the Mediterranean race. 



8. Falco peregrinus radama llartl. 



Falcii raiJaina (ex Verreaux MS.), Bonaparte, Rei\ d- .Uaij. Znul. 1854, p. 535 * (Nomen nudum !) ; 

 Hartl., Jourii. f. Orii. 18'j1, p. \'i (Nomen nudum ! Madagascar) ; Hartlaub, Orn. Beitr. Fauna 

 Madagascars, p. 17 (18G1 — First description !). 



This interesting form was first "described" by Hartlaub in 1861. He is 

 therefore the author of the name radama. although he did not recognise it as 

 different from minor, on p. lU of his work on the birds of Madagascar in 1877. Nor 

 was it separated by Messrs. Grandidier and Milne-Edwards in their great work on 

 Madagascar. 



Erlanger, Joiirn. f. Orn. 1993, p. 300, characterised F. p. radama well, 

 stating how it differed from minor, which he erroneously called "■ peregrinoides 

 Smith." The head, nape and back are still deeper and purer black than in minor, 



* Not 53G ! 



