68 FALCONIDJE. 



the sides of the breast, and on the greater under wing-coverts ; quills 

 hlackish brown, primaries externally washed with ashy grey, the 

 secondaries entirely of the latter colour and tipped with white ; pri- 

 maries white at base of inner web, the rest of the ijuills entirely 

 white underneath, the secondaries with a nearly obsolete greyish 

 subterminal band ; upper tail-covei'ts white, barred across with ashy 

 grey ; middle tail-feathers uniform ashy grey, the rest white with 

 seven or eight bars of ashy groy, all tipped with white, under sur- 

 face of tail entirely white, the bars less distinct. Bill black ; feet 

 yellow; iris yellow. Total length 17'5 inches, culmen 1*15, wing 

 13-2, taU 8-8, tarsus 2-65. 



Adult female. Above brown, the head and hind neck streaked 

 with tawny fulvous, with which most of the feathers of the upper 

 surface are margined and tipped, the small wing-coverts especially 

 broadly ; frontal feathers, a superciliary line as well as a spot below 

 the eye white ; cheeks and ear-coverts dark brown, very slightly 

 streaked with tawny ; facial ruff dark brown, plainly streaked with 

 creamy buff; wings nearly uniform sepia-brown, tipped with huffy 

 white, primaries externally shaded with ashy grey; primaries plainly, 

 secondaries obsoletely barred with darker brown, plainer underneath, 

 where the inner webs are creamy buff ; upper tail-coverts white, 

 barred across or diamond-spotted with dark brovra ; tail pale tawny, 

 crossed with four broad blackish bars, the interspaces inclining to 

 white on the outer feathers, the black bars replaced by rufous on 

 external rectrix, the two centre feathers ashy brown, with six 

 blackish brown cross bars, the subterminal one broadest ; under sur- 

 face of body creamy white, with broad longitudinal streaks of brown 

 on chest, becoming narrower and more rufous on lower breast and 

 abdomen ; under tail-coverts clearly rufescent ; under wing-coverts 

 creamy buff, with diamond-shaped spots and streaks of brown, the 

 lower series barred across with blackish ; axillarics brown, inclining to 

 rufous, with large oval spots of fulvous on both webs ; cere greenish 

 yellow ; bill horny black, gape dull greenish ; feet yellow ; iris dark 

 hazel. Total length 205 inches, wing 14-7, tail 10-5, tarsus 2-9. 



Young. Brown, like the old female, but not so much variegated 

 above, with tawny margins to the feathers ; under surface entirely 

 pale fawn-colour, the facial ruff of this same colour, and therefore 

 contrasting in marked prominence with the dark brown cheeks and 

 ear-coverts, the flank-feathers and axillaries with indistinct brown 

 central streaks ; frontal feathers, superciliary streak, and spot imder 

 the eye whitish ; upper tail-coverts white, spotted with pale rufous ; 

 tail much as in old female, but the dark bars only five in number. 



Hah. Europe genei'ally, as far north as 60° N. lat., and about 8° 

 E. long. : in winter in Africa, except the forest-region of the west 

 coast ; all India and Ceylon, Burmah, and to the river Yangtze in 

 China. 



ft. S fid. sk. Athens. C. W. L. Merlin, Esq. [P.]. 



h. S ad. sk. Southern Ural. Dr. Strader [C.]. 



c. c5" ad. sk. Mesopotamia. Euphrates Expedition [C.l. 



d. $ ad. sk. liajkote, Kattiawar, Capt. J. Hayes Llovd [P.]. 



Nov. 10, 1871. 



