66 FALCONID^. 



Adiilt male. Above bluish grey, the wing-coverts a little darker 

 and slightly mottled, with a terminal spot of dark ash-colour ; pri- 

 mary coverts and secondaries silvery grey, narrowly tijiped with 

 white, and crossed with two bands of black, the lower one concealed 

 by the greater wing-coverts, but plain enough on under surface, 

 which is whitish ashy ; primaries black, the inner ones shaded with 

 grey towards tips and on the inner web ; upper tail-coverts white, 

 shading into ashy grey at the tips, which are subterminally deep ash- 

 colour, sometimes two bands of ashy grey on the feathers ; tail 

 cindery grey, the two central feathers uniform, the rest banded aci'oss 

 with five broad bars of ashy black, inclining gradually to and becoming 

 tawny rufous on the outer feathers, the interspaces on these being 

 white ; lores whitish ; facial rutf cindery grey like head ; throat and 

 entire breast pale bluish grey ; abdomen, flanks, thighs, and under 

 wing- and tail-coverts white, with distinct longitudinal streaks of 

 rufous fawn ; the axillaries with large diamond-shaped cross mark- 

 ings of the same colour ; cere greenish yellow ; bill blackish ; feet 

 yellow ; iris yeUow. Total length 18 inches, culmen 1-1, wing 15, 

 tail 9-5, tarsus 2-3*. 



Adult female. Above nearly uniform brown, with very sUght re- 

 mains of fulvous margins to the feathers, more distinct on the inner- 

 most wing-coverts ; head and hind neck streaked with pale rufous, 

 as also the facial ruff and sides of the neck ; ear-coverts nearly 

 uniform brown, feathers- under the eye whitish ; quills dark brown, 

 the primary coverts and primaries shaded with grey externally, 

 barred with darker brown, more distinct underneath, where the quills 

 are fulvous white on inner web, the inner secondaries brown like the 

 back ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail brown, tipped with paler 

 brown, and crossed with five bands of darker brown, the interspaces 

 paler and more rufescent on outer rectrices, inclining to whitish on 

 inner web ; under surface of body buffy white, with rufous centres 

 to the feathers, giving a distinctly striped appearance ; cere dull 

 yellow ; bill black ; feet yellow ; iris hazel. Total length 1 9 inches, 

 wing 15-3, tail 8-7, tarsus 1-4. 



Hah. Europe generally to the south of 60° N". lat. ; ranging in 

 winter through Palestine and along the Nile to Abyssinia and South 

 Africa ; aU over India and Ceylon, and to the river Yangtze in 

 China. 



a. c5' ad. St. Devonshire. Col. Montagu [P.]. Type 



of Falco cinei-arius. 



Devonshire. Col. Montagu [P.]. 



Wiltshire. Col. Montagu [P.]. 



Oxfordshire. Miss Moreland [P.]. 



Great Britain. Sir A. Molesworth [P.]. 



Europe. Purchased. 



* Supposing that all the grey-plumaged bird8 are males, as is always stated, 

 the wing varies from 135 to 15'5, which is the length of the brown-plumaged 

 female. It seems to me by no means improbable that the old female may re- 

 semble the old male, though taking perhaps a longer time to gain the adult 

 plimiage. 



