64 FALCONID^. 



of the bird of the year are often strongly tinged, especially 

 at the edges, with rufous ; and some adults are extremely 

 rufous beneath, others having scarcely a trace of the warmer 

 colouring. There is a remarkable specimen in Mr. Newcome's 

 collection, in which the belly, vent, and flanks are of a 

 light blue-grey, with the usual dark bars. This was a bird 

 which had been in training for some time. Occasionally, 

 and most often in the young, the feet are of a light blue 

 or grey. According to Professor Schlegel, the kind of food 

 eaten by the birds makes a sensible diflerence in the tints of 

 the plumage, the reddest being those which prey mostly on 

 Ducks, or other fat water-fowl. It is, however, a well-known 

 fact, that the greatest differences may often be seen in 

 Eyasses from the same nest, brought up under the same 

 conditions, and on the same diet. 



Mr. W. G. Johnstone, in a communication to the ' Natu- 

 ralist' for 1853, states that a pair of Peregrine Falcons, 

 after having been kept in confinement for some years, not only 

 laid two eggs, but continued to sit on them for twelve days, 

 the male taking his share of duty. Being disturbed by 

 strangers, the process of incubation was interrupted ; but 

 there was every reason to believe that young would have 

 been produced from the assiduity displayed by the parent 

 birds while they sat, and the fact that the eggs, on exami- 

 nation, proved to be fertile. 



-w^^ 



