364< Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



cliffc." Mr. Hume and I were at issue on the subject of an 

 alleged species distinct from F. peregrinator, which he proposed 

 to call F. atriceps. It appears to me that, if there is any dis- 

 tinction between the race from Northern India and that from 

 Central and Southern India, the difference is only a local one, in 

 a species not migratory, and breeding over a very large tract of 

 country, and is insufficient to constitute two species. In the many 

 examples I have had, living, dead, or as skins (principally, it is 

 true, from Northern or North-western India), I have had specimens 

 differing widely from each other, yet hardly so considerably as 

 I have often seen in the case of a lot of living Peregrine Falcons 

 all before me at one time, say from 15 to 25, and all cap- 

 tured or taken from the nest in the British Isles. Experienced 

 falconers are able to point out among a lot of young Falcons the 

 individuals which have been taken from eyries from which they 

 have been in the habit of receiving young birds, while the 

 uninitiated observer will frequently inquire, on seeing two Falcons 

 sitting together, " Are these two of the same species ? " the 

 contrast is so great. A small close-feathered " black " Falcon 

 with a short tail is a very different-looking bird from a large 

 loose-feathered " white " Falcon ; and the varieties in colour 

 and make among a lot are endless. I have now two Falcons 

 sitting on the lawn here; and nearly every person who sees 

 them asks if they are of one species. I remember that in 

 letters, as well as during a visit to me at Attock last year, Mr. 

 Hume dwelt upon the shade of blue in the upper plumage of 

 adult birds, claiming for his F. atriceps a browner shade, as 

 distinct from what he termed the Peregrine blue. Now Pere- 

 grines, in adult plumage, like Shaheens, are of very varied shades 

 of blue. Moreover, in observing this blue shade, very strict 

 regard must be had to the time elapsed since moulting in each 

 specimen ; for this blue shade is evanescent, more or less, and 

 the sun of India and wind and weather will cause a. Falcon, wild 

 or tame, to present a very different appearance in March to that 

 she presented in October of the preceding year. However blue 

 she may have been in October, she will have lost a good deal of it 

 for a browner shade by March. So I regard this blue shade as 

 a very treacherous guide, equally with other alleged differences. 



