FALCO. 241 



altogether, the hands fade off the imder tail-coverts and in very old birds 

 only small scattered specks remain on the abdomen and triangular mark- 

 ings on the thigh-coverts. The general tint of the lower surface varies 

 from almost white to light rufous. 



"Bill bluish, black at tip ; cere yellow ; iris brown ; legs and feet yellow. 

 Length of a female, about 483 ; tail, IHO ; wing, 368 ; tarsus, 53 ; middle 

 toe without claw, .57 ; l)ill from gape, 33. Males are considerably smaller, 

 length, about 406; wing, 317." (Blatiford.) 



An old female, taken in Tarlac Province, Luzon, was 470 in length; 

 wing, 360: tail, 195; culmen from base, 30; tarsus, 55; middle toe with 

 claw, 68. Iris brown; cere, legs, and skin about eyes light lemon-yellow; 

 nails black; bill black, its basal third very pale yellow. 



199. FALCO MELANOGENYS Gould. 



AUSTRALIAN FALCON. 



Falco melanogenys Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1837), 1.39; Sharpe, Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 385; Hand-List (1899), 1, 274; Gates, Cat. 

 Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 298; McGregor and AYorcester, Hand-List 

 (1906), 45. 



Luzon ( Heriot ) . Australia. 



"Adult male. — Head and nape deep black, including the entire sides 

 of face, cheeks, and ear-coverts; interscapulary region blackish, with a 

 few obsolete transverse bars of bluish gray; rest of upper surface bluish 

 ashy, barred all over with blackish, some of the bars, especially of the 

 upper tail-coverts, assuming a triangular form ; upper wing-coverts some- 

 what washed with brown, the gray shade l)eing more perceptible on the 

 greater series; quills black, the primaries outwardly shaded Mith gray, 

 outer secondaries narrowly tipped with creamy white, the inner ones 

 almost entirely bluish gray, with obscure blackish marblings and cross- 

 bars; tail blackisli, with a narrow ashy wiiite bar at the tip, the upper 

 surface shaded with gra}', clearer toward the base, bars on center rectrices 

 eleven in numl>er, not including the broad subterminal black band ; throat 

 and upper breast deeji creamy buff, the latter with a few median black 

 shaft-stri])es : rest of tiie under surface l)uft'y white, closely but narrowly 

 barred across with black, sides of body and thighs shaded with a bluish 

 gray tinge; fore part of breast and under wing-coverts with a strong 

 fawn-colored shade. Bill greenish at l)ase, horny black at tip, under 

 mandible deep orange ; feet yellow ; claws black ; iris dark. Length, 376 ; 

 culmen, 30; wing, 30(»; tail, 15?; tarsus. 51. 



"Adult female. — Similar to the male, but larger and more richly 

 colored ; underneath deep ferruginous, paler on the chest, the cross barring 

 narrow and irregular, sometimes contined to a small sul)terminal spot. 

 Length, 419; culmen, 37; wing, 338; tail, 168; tarsus, 51. 

 77719 ](} 



