32 BIRDS CF INDIA. 



12. Falco babylonicus, Gueney. 



ScLATER and Irby, Ibis, vol. 3, p. 218, — F. peregrinator, 

 apud HoRSF., Cat. 20 in part. 



Red-iieaded Lanner. 



Descr. — Nearly similar to F. harbarus, but generally lighter, 

 and rather more rufous on the front of the head : the size, however, 

 in nearly one-third greater, being tlie same as that of F. lanarius 

 of Schlegel. From the latter bird it may be distinguished, 

 1. — By the absence of the whitish frontal band, the rufous of the 

 vertex extending forwards on to the cere, and being bordered 

 behiud by a broad band of dark slaty brown, Avhich divides it 

 from the rufous of the nape. 2. — By the feathers on the back 

 of tlie neck below the nape being bordered with rufoiis of the 

 same tinge as on tlie nape. This edging is sometimes present in 

 F\ barhariis, but never to the same extent in F. lanarius. 3. — By 

 the comparative absence of spots on the upper portion of the 

 lower surface, in which character it nearly agrees with the Abyssinian 

 form of F. lanarius, which I take to be strictly Lichtenstein's 

 F. fam/pterus. The middle claw of F. hahylonicus is longer than 

 that of F. lanarius, in which respect it also approaches to the 

 structure of F. harbarus. Judging from the partial remains of 

 the immature plumage in one specimen, it would appear that in 

 this stage the bird most nearly resembles F. peregriuiis, in which 

 particular it also agrees wltli F. harbarus. 



Length, 17 to 18 inches; wing, 12^ to 13; tail, 6^ to 7; tars., 

 nearly 2 ; mid toe 2.' 



A specimen of this newly-described Falcon was obtained by 

 Captain Irby in 1858 in Oude. It appears that one of the spe- 

 cimens named F. peregrinator, in the J\lus. E. I. C. H., brought 

 from Babylon by Commodore Jones, belongs to this species, and 

 others exist in the Norwich Museum, one said to be from Africa. 

 Mr. Sclater remarks that 'it does not belong to the group of true 

 Peregrines, but rather to that containing F. lanarius, Schlegel, 

 F. tawjpterus, Licht., F. biannicus, Tem., and F. harbarus, Salvin.,' 

 i. e., our Lanners. 



