444 Mr. J. H. Gurney on the Birds-of-prey 



Earopean bird has been obtained in Madagascar, and also on 

 the island of Nossi-be, and that one of the Madagascar specimens 

 was the type of F. radama, Verreaux. The measurements they 

 give of the Nossi-be bird, which is said to have been a female, 

 appear to me to agree more nearly with those of F. minor and 

 F. melanogenijs than with those of F. peregrinus (or F. communis, 

 as MM. Schlegel and Pollen term it) ; and in this opinion I am 

 confirmed by a remark of M. Grandidier (Rev. Zool. 1867, 

 p. 319), who says that the Madagascar Peregrine Falcon only 

 differs, like that of South Africa, from our common Falcon of 

 Europe by being a little less in size. It would therefore seem 

 that F. radama should rather rank as a synonym of F. minor, 

 or of F. melanogenys, than of F. peregrinus. MM. Schlegel and 

 Pollen appear to consider that the Madagascar Falcon is iden- 

 tical with F. melanogenys ; but they do not admit the latter as a 

 species distinct from F. peregrinus. 



My own view is that both F. melanogenys and F. minor are 

 specifically distinct from F. peregrinus — the size of the Austra- 

 lian and South- African Falcons being always less, and the trans- 

 verse dark bands on the abdomen in adult specimens being always 

 narrower and usually nearer together in them than in the adult 

 F. peregrinus. The question whether F. minor and F. melanogenys 

 are specifically distinct from each other is a more doubtful one ; 

 and I incline to the opinion that no well-defined difference really 

 exists between these two southern forms. 



An example of F. minor was procured by the late Dr. Dicker- 

 son* on the island of Joanna, one of the Comoro group, as re- 

 corded by Mr. Sclater (Ibis, 1864, p. 298), and is preserved in 

 the Norwich Museum. This specimen being partially in imma- 

 ture plumage, and its sex not having been noted, I have felt 

 some doubt whether it is a male F. peregrinus or a female F. minor ; 

 but, from the character of the transverse markings which are 

 beginning to appear on the lower parts, I believe it to be the 

 latter, and that its identification by Mr. Sclater {ut supra cit.) 

 was correct, notwithstanding the doubt expressed by MM. Schle- 

 gel and Pollen [op. cit. p. 31) . 



* This gentleman's name has been several times wrongly spelt " Dick- 



