THE FALCONS. l8l 



I. THE PEREGRINE FALCON. FALCO PEREGRINUS. 



Falco peregrinus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. i (1771) ; Macg. Br. B. 

 iii. p. 294 (1840); Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 53 

 (187 1); Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 31, pi. 372 (1876); See- 

 bohm, Brit. B. i. p. ZZ (1883); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 

 102 (1883); Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 334 (1889); Lil- 

 ford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xii. (1890). 

 Fahv communis, Gm. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 376 

 (1874). 

 Adult Male. — General colour above blue -grey, much paler 

 towards the rump and upper tail-coverts, the upper surface 

 barred with black, the bars on the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 more or less heart-shaped ; the head, neck, and upper mantle 

 blackish, with grey bars, more or less indistinct on the mantle ; 

 cheeks, ear-coverts, and a moustachial band blackish ; fore- 

 head whitish ; sides of neck white, forming a patch of white, 

 separating the ear-coverts from the hind-neck ; under surface 

 of body white, with a tinge of pale fawn-colour on the breast 

 and lower abdomen ; the throat unspotted, and the chest with 

 a few narrow bars of blackish, taking the form of spots in the 

 centre of the breast, and of narrow dart-shaped lines on the 

 under tail-coverts ; the quills brownish-black, the primaries 

 slightly shaded with greyish, the secondaries clearer grey, 

 crossed by dull blackish bars, the smaller median quills tipped 

 with white ; tail-feathers grey, broadly barred with black and 

 tipped with white, the bars more obscure towards the tip of 

 the tail, which is darker than the basal portion; cere and 

 eyelids yellow ; bill blue, blackish towards the tip ; feet yel- 

 low, the claws black ; iris dark hazel-brown. Total length, 

 15 inches; culmen, 1-2; wing, 12-0-127; tail, 6-5 ; tarsus, 

 2-05. 



Adult Female. — Larger than the male. Total length, 17 

 inches; culmen, 1-35 ; wing, 145 ; tail-, 7-5 ; tarsus, 2-1. 



Young Birds. — Brown, shaded with grey on the upper surface, 

 the feathers of which are edged with rufous ; head and neck 

 rusty-buff, the sides of the crown and occiput, the nape and 

 hind-neck, the feathers behind the eye, and the moustachial 

 line mottled with blackish ; under surface of the body rusty- 



