( 39 ) 



oblique opening, with a bony ribbed 

 margin and a central tubercle. The 

 wings are long and pointed with never 

 more than two primaries emarginated. 



This family is further broken into 

 several groups or sub-families more or 

 less sharply divided, which need only 

 be mentioned. The true Falcons have 

 the middle toe very long, never much 

 shorter and sometimes longer than the 

 tarsus, and the nostril opening round. 

 The smaller Kestrels have the tarsus 

 decidedly longer than the middle toe, 

 the nostril opening round, and the 

 sexes differing widely in coloration. 



The Falconets are the smallest of the 

 family, and have the nostrils oval. 



PEEEGEINE, (PEREGRINE 

 FALCON.) 



FALCO PEEEGEINUS TUENSTALL. 



Descriptio7i.— Length, male fifteen 

 inches ; female seventeen inches. 

 Beak bluish : cere and claws yellow. 

 The wings reach to the end of the tail 

 which is rounded. Iris dark brown. 



Plumage silvery grey above with 

 band and spots of darker color on every 

 feather. Head, cheeks, and mustache 

 black. Throat and all parts below 

 white, with black streaks on the breast, 

 spots on the abdomen and transverse 

 bars on the flanks, legs, and under tail 

 coverts. Tail brown barred with 

 whitish. 



The young are entirely reddish be- 

 low, with long black spots. 



^ Distrihition. — Cosmopolitan. This 

 bird is a resident in the Yangtse Valley, 



Nest and Eggs.— Hudson writes 



thus of the European bird; usually 



it makes no nest, the eggs being 



