314 FALCO VESPERTINUS. 



rest of their extent with angular scales, of which four on the 

 inner and fore part are larger, and three over the joint scutelli- 

 forni. The toes are slender, the anterior connected by short 

 basal webs, the hind toe short, with five scutella, the second 

 shorter than the fourth, and with eight, the third with thir- 

 teen, the fourth with six scutella. The claws are slender, 

 compressed, acuminate, curved in the fourth of a circle. 



On the head and neck the plumage is blended, on the back 

 rather compact, on the lower parts rather loose ; the feathers 

 in general ovate and rounded ; the greater part of the cere is 

 bare ; the loral space covered with divergent bristle-tipped 

 plumelets. The eyelids are bare, but furnished with ciliae. The 

 wings are long and pointed ; the quills twenty-three, the second 

 longest, the first five-t\^^elfths shorter than the second, two- 

 twelfths shorter than the third, and having the inner web 

 abruptly cut out to the distance of an inch and a half from the 

 end, the second with the inner web narrowed. The tail is 

 long, somewhat rounded, the middle feathers being three- 

 fourths of an inch longer than the lateral. 



The bill is pale yellow at the base, yellowish-brown toward 

 the end ; the cere and eyelids orange ; the feet light yellowish- 

 red, the claws pale yellow, with their tips brown. The general 

 colour of the plumage is deep greyish-blue ; the quills lighter, 

 with their shafts brownish-black ; the tail blackish-blue ; the 

 abdominal, tibial, and subcaudal feathers, light yellowish-red. 



Length to end of tail 12 inches, to end of wings llf ; wing 

 from flexure 9, tail 5i ; bill along the ridge j%, along the 

 edge of lower mandible j^ ; tarsus ly\ ; first toe ■{%, its claw 

 /j ; second toe ji^, its claw 1^^ » third toe Ij^'^, its claw j% ; 

 fourth toe jo, its claw i\. 



Female. — The adult female has the bare parts coloured as 

 in the male. The upper part of the head and the hind-neck 

 are light brownish-red ; the back, wing-coverts, and secondary 

 quills leaden grey, transversely barred with bluish-black ; the 

 tail light grey barred with black, there being ten bars on the 

 lateral feathers, and the two middle feathers being more faintly 

 marked ; the primary quills greyish-black, but their inner 



