OWLS AND DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 375 
aders. From its bold nature, its swift flight, and powerful 
stroke it has long been a favourite with Falconers, who train 
it to fly at Herons, Storks, Cranes, &c. Though usually 
breeding in the far north, there seems no doubt (wide Legge. 
p. 104) that Layard shot a pair breeding in the Jafina peninsula. 
The nest was a rough structure of twigs in the top of a pal- 
myra. In temperate regions the nest is usually placed on a 
cliff ledge. The three or four eggs are reddish-white, freckled 
with brick-red or reddish-brown, and measure about 2°2 
by 1°65. 
FALcO PEREGRINATOR (Blanford, Vol. III., p. 415; 
Legge, p. 106). 
The Shahin Falcon. 
Description.—Darker than the last species ; at all ages the 
head, nape, and hind-neck are almost charcoal-black, and the 
lower surface from the chest to the tail coverts is a deep 
ferruginous brown. 
In young birds almost the whole upper plumage is black 
with rufous edges which soon wear off; the nape is tinged 
with rufous and the tail marked with oval spots, as in the 
young of the last species. The chin and throat are pale and — 
unspotted ; the breast and abdomen marked with long dark 
drops. In old birds these markings on the breast and 
abdomen almost entirely disappear. 
Bill slate-blue, dark at the tip; cere and orbital skin 
yellow ; iris deep brown ; legs yellow. 
Females: length about 17°5; wing 12°75; tail 6°25; 
tarsus 2; mid-toe without claw 2; bill from gape 1°25. 
Males: length about 15; wing 11°5. Ceylon birds are 
smaller than those from Northern India. 
Distribution.—A resident species closely allied to the true 
Peregrine, which is migrant. Exceedingly rare in Ceylon, 
where it is found occasionally in the mountain zone, and 
round isolated hills or sea cliffs in the low-country. It 
occurs in rocky hills in or near forest throughout India and 
Burma, and perhaps in Afghanistan, but it is nowhere 
common. 
