1T6 NOVITATES !5oOLOniCAE XXII. li)15. 



Island; its wing nioasnres, acconling to Klelnscluuiilt, in litt., ;500 mm. Stejneger 

 gives the wings of liis specimens from Bering Island as follows : c? ad. 324, ? ad. 

 382 and 3S.j mm. ; but Hidgway measnros his Ameiican specimens as 317-331 

 (males) and 300-375 (females). The yonng birds which Jlr. Stejneger described 

 are possibly specimens of F. p. calidus which were on passage. More material 

 of breeding birds is desired, to understand better tiie cliaracters and distribution of 

 this Falcon. 



13. Falco peregrinus cassini Sharps 



Falco Cassini Sharpo, Anmih d- Ma,i. Xal. llisl. (4) xi. p. 2J1 (lK7:i— " Straiti of Magellan and 

 Chili"). 



A form with extremely black sides to the head and generally very dark. It 

 appears to inhabit southern Soutii America, at least from Chile to the Falkland 

 Islands. I am inclined to think tliat all South American breediu" Peregrines must 

 belong to cassini, while iinafiiin is a winter visitor, and so might possibly be pealet. 



14, Falco pevegrinus riphaeus But. 



Falco ptregrinus ripliaens Buturlin, P«.n:tiij i Ru^heiiiniu OkJmlu .\iii. 7. p. 'Jit (UI07 — Southern Ural 

 Mountains. In Russian !). 



Buturlin wrote to me that this form is " still darker than ty|iical F. peregrinus 

 from Western Europe, which Menzbier calks coruicum." Tliat is all we know 

 of this bird in Western Europe ! It is a great inconvenience that Russian 

 ornithologists treat us with descriptions of new species and subspecies in Russian 

 sporting magazines and in the Russian language. The object of describing new 

 forms ought to be to increase the knowledge of the scientific world, and not merely 

 to gain priority for a name by a description which is not available to and is 

 not understood by nearly all ornithologists out of Russia. 



No specimens are known to me in any Museum outside of Russia. 



Falco fasciimicha Rchw. & Neum. 



Falco fasciiiuicha Reichenow & Neumann, Orn. Mnnalsber. 1893, p. 111-4 (Xilara, Teita, February 

 1895, collected by Oscar Neumann) ; Neumann, Jouni.f. Orn. 1899, p. tii, pi. 1. 



I have seen the type and unique specimen — unfortunately not " sexed" — in the 

 Berlin Museum, but I must confess that I would not like to give a definite opinion 

 about it without comparing more specimens, and, if possible, unmounted (as skins) 

 and sexed. Neumann (./<?«;■«. /. Orn. 1899, p. 52) compared the bird with Falco 

 cuvieri, which is not an ally of the Peregrines, but I am inclined to share the opinion 

 of Kleinschmidt and Erlanger {Journ. f. Orn. 1903, p. 292) that it is a form of 

 Peregrine. It is to be hoped that one day more such birds may reach our European 

 musenms. 



III. 



THE LANNER FALCONS. 



This group of Falcons rivals the Peregrines in beauty and interest. It is a 

 grand sight to see them from afar enthroned on the clift's of the bare mountain 

 ranges which extend across the Sahara in the clear atmosphere and grand desert 

 snn, or to see them dashing after their prey along the gour or the oneds of the 

 plateau of Tademait and its southern escarpment. 



