384 FAtCONID^. 



more distinct on the upper wing-coverts, and paler on the upper 

 tail-coverts, which are also barred with ashy white ; tail blackish 

 brown, with creamy buff tip, barred with rufous, the bars on the 

 outer tail-feathers not parallel ; throat creamy white ; rest of the 

 under surface clear tawny, with central black markings down each 

 feather, broader on the flanks and more zigzag in shape on the 

 under tail-coverts ; bill horn-brown, mottled with yellowish. Total 

 length 12 inches, culmen 1-1, wing 9-1, tail 5, tarsus 1-6. 

 Hah. Southern and North-eastern Africa. 



a. Juv. St. South Africa. M. Verreaux. 



b. Ad. sk. South Africa. J. Rocke, Esq. [P.]. 



c. ? ad. sk. Waliko, Anseba valley, W. T. Blanford, Esq. [P.]. 



July 21, 1868. 



4. Falco cassini. 



PFalco nigriceps, Cass. U. 8. Astr. Exped. p. 176, pi. xiv. (1855). 

 Falco cassini, Sharpe, Ann. N. H. (4) xi. p. 223 (1873). 



Adult male. Above dark bluish ashy, everywhere transversely 

 spotted or barred with black, the bars very broad and closely set on 

 the upper part of the back, further apart and more sagittate in 

 shape on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; a frontal 

 line tinged with whitish, very indistinct ; entire head and hind neck, 

 cheeks, ear-coverts, and moustachial streak deep black, extending 

 on to the interscapulary region ; least wing-coverts blackish like 

 the latter, the others coloured and barred like the back ; quills deep 

 brownish black, the primaries with obsolete grey spots near the 

 base, the inner secondaries uniform with the back ; tail bluish ashy 

 with black bars, which become merged towards the tip of the tail, 

 so that this is conspicuously black for about a quarter of its length ; 

 throat itself creamy buff, unspotted ; fore neck and chest pale buffy 

 fawn-colour, with very narrow black shaft-lines, the shade of fawn 

 extending slightly on to the breast ; rest of under surface creamy 

 white, with a very strong grey shade on the lower parts, thickly 

 crossed with black bars ; the inner web of the quills with numerous 

 buify white bars, becoming smaller and more obsolete towards the 

 tips of the quills ; bill orange at liase, inclining gradually to bluish 

 horn-colour towards the tip ; feet yellow, claws horn-brown. Total 

 length 15*5 inches, culmen 1-1, wing 12, tail 7, tarsus 2. 



Female. Similar to the male, but larger, and without the bluish 

 shade on the lower parts (being probably not so old a bird) ; head, 

 neck, and sides of face black. Total length 20 inches, culmen 1-35, 

 wing 13-5, tail 7*8, tarsus 1"9. 



Young male. Above deep blackish brown, the nape tinged with 

 chestnut, all the feathers more or less distinctly margined with the 

 same colour, except the upper tail-eoverts and inner secondaries, 

 which are tipped with buff; quills blackish, the inner web half 

 barred with clear rufous ; tail blackish, tipped with creamy buff 

 and crossed with several indistinct grey bars, becoming rufous on 



