316 Mr. J. H. Guriiey's Notes on 



that the Rhodes Falcon is referable to F. burbarus. With 

 regard to that from Tangier, Lord Lilford informs me that 

 it has been unf ortunataly mislaid, but that it was in immature 

 plumage ; and I feel no doubt that this also is a young F. bar- 

 barus. I do not think that the series of Falcons examined by 

 Mr. Dresser contained any specimen of what I believe to be 

 the true female of F. jmnicus. 



I now propose briefly to describe the principal variations of 

 plumage which 1 have observed in adult specimens of F. 

 jmnicus ; and these are not a little remarkable, some specimens 

 being almost undistinguishable in markings and coloration 

 from F. mino?', others approaching exceedingly near in these 

 respects to F. barbarus, whilst the majority exhibit a plumage 

 more or less intermediate between these two extremes. 



The following notes refer to the distinguishing letters in 

 the foregoing list of measurements ; they are limited to spe- 

 cimens which are adult, or nearly so, and deal first with the 

 males and subsequently with the females. 



Amongst the Falcons which I have examined, and which I 

 consider must be referred to F. punicus, are two males that 

 seem to me only to difter from F. minor in their longer \ving- 

 measurement. One of these is specimen O, from Smyrna, 

 which has been figured as an adult F. minor by Mr. Dresser 

 in his ' Birds of Europe/ pi. 373 ; the other is E, from North- 

 western Spain, which, as regards coloration, only difl:ers from 

 O in having the dark transverse bars on the breast and abdomen 

 somewhat narrower. Both these specimens are very dark on 

 the upper parts, especially on the head, interscapulars, and 

 lesser wing-coverts, which are slaty black ; their crops show a 

 black guttate spot in the centre of nearly every feather; and the 

 breast, abdomen, tibiae, and flanks are throughout very re- 

 gularly cross-barred with black ; the spots on the crop, and the 

 regularity and profusion of dark transverse bars on the breast, 

 are, I believe, due to the birds not having moulted subse- 

 quently to their assumption of adult dress ; and this view 

 is contirmed by the circumstance that O shows two brown 

 feathers of the immature plumage, one in the coverts of each 

 wing, still remaining. 



