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FALCO VESPERTINUS. THE ORANGE-LEGGED 



FALCON. 



RED-LEGGED OR RED-FOOTED FALCON. ORANGE-LEGGED HOBBY. 



Falco vespertinus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 129. 



Falco vespertinus. Lath. Lid. Orn. I. 46. 



Faucon k pieds rouges ou Kobez. Falco rufipes. Temm. Man. d'Oru. L 33. 



Orange-legged Hobby. Falco rufipes. Selb. Illustr. I. 45. 



Falco rufipes. Red-legged Falcon. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 83. 



Wings when closed about the same length as the tail. Male 

 with the plumage of a uniform deep greyish-blue, excepting that 

 of the abdomen and legs, and the lower tail-coverts, tvhich are bright 

 yelloicish-red ; cere orange-red, feet reddish flesh-colour . Female 

 with the upper part of the head and the hind-neck yellowish-red, 

 the back greyish-blue, bari'ed with black, the tail bluish-grey with 

 black bands, the lower parts light yellowish-red, iclth oblong brown 

 spots. Young with the head reddish-broicn icith black shaft-lines ; 

 the feathers of the back deep brown edged icith light red, the space 

 about the eyes blackish, the lower parts yellowish-white, with lon- 

 gitudinal broicn spots. 



Male. — The Orange-legged Falcon is similar in form to the 

 Hobby, but is easily distinguished in all stages by its colours, 

 which differ from those of any other British species. The head 

 is rather large and round ; the bill very short and strong ; the 

 upper mandible with the dorsal line decurved from the base, 

 the sides convex, the edges with a distinct festoon, and a nar- 

 row dentiform process, the tip trigonal and acute, the lower 

 mandible with the angle short and very broad, the dorsal line 

 convex, the back broad and rounded, the sides convex, the 

 edges inflected, with a semicircular notch on each side close 

 to the directly truncate tip. The tarsi are slender, feather- 

 ed anteriorly for more than a third down, covered in the 



