FALCO. -JGo 



some of the feathers nn the foreneck and uppsr breast creamy butt, and where many of the 

 feathers have narrow black central streak-s. Win;,' same as adult male, ii-r) inches. An 

 immature female is dalln in colour on the upper parts, and the bluish-ijrey and blackish-brown 

 bars are less distinct, and the scapulars and upper wing-coverts are narrowly edged with light 

 rufous-brown; on the under parts it is richer in colour than the adult, for it is destitute of the 

 neutralising grey wash tu the feathers on the lower sides of the body and abdomen. Wnig i2-5 

 inches. 



August until the end of December constitutes the usual breeding season of this species in 

 Eastern Australia. In North-eastern New South Wales Mr. G. Savidge has taken eggs from 

 Aui;ust until the end of October. The duration of the breeding season depends \ery much on 

 whether the birds are molested or not, for on several occasions Mr. Savidge has robbed the 

 same pair of birds three times in a season, and then allowed them to rear a brood ; he has, 

 however, taken more eggs in .\ugust and September than in (jctober. In South-western New 

 South Wales the late Mr. K. H. Bennett took eggs in September and October, and during the 

 same months Mr. E. D. Atkinson and Dr. L. Holden have taken them on the islands of Bass 

 Strait and on the north-west coast of Tasmania. 



Falco hypoleucus. 



(iKEY FALCON. 



F.ilcu Iti/poleaciis, Guulil, Froc. Zool. Soc, 1S40, p. 102; iil., Bds. Austr., fol. V"ol. I, pi, 7 (18-tS); 

 id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 24 (ISO.")) ; Sharpe, Cat. Bd.s. Brit. Mas., Vol. I., p. 

 .394 (1874) ; iW, Ifaiul-I. Bds., Vol. I., p. 274 (1899). 



Adult m.\LK. — Ucnrrii! colour aliovp. Iihcish-i/reij, fuch. fi'allieyr hiiri/n/ narro'i: bliickis/i .shafts ; 

 \i (ij^ii'r iring-corerts Hk<' tlf hack, soiiv^ of the greater series and the secondaries irit/i the remains of 

 indistinct brown crosf-hars ,■ remainder nf quills blackish-hnnvn, their inner xu'bs tuathed unth 

 greyislt-iidiile, and jineJ i/ freckled loilli bm/on; upper tail-corerts and tail-feathers bluish-grei/, banded 

 icith blarkish-grey, more distinct on the latter : fcxthcrs of the forehead, crown of the head and nape 

 slu/li'tl;/ darker t/r<ij Ih.an the back, ivith- cnnspicnoiis black shaft-lines: a narroiv line of feiilliers, 

 partialhj eiicirclinj the bare skin aronnd the eye, black: all the nnder sii,rface eery pale blnish-grey, 

 all the feathers with fine blank shaftdines, less distinct on the throat; tJie under tail-corerts greyish- 

 7v/i.ite, tvit/i the remains (if slightly darker grey cross-ba^rs : nnder wing-corerts almost pure wldle, 

 some of them ii'ith narrow blackish shaft lines : hill fi ne bhusli-black, darker at the tip, its base orani/e: 

 cere and skin around tin- eye yellow; legs and f-et rich orange ; clans black. Total length in the 

 flesh H'o inches, n-ing ll'ri, tail If bill 0-9, tarsus I'S. 



Adult FEM.VLK. — '^imihu- in plumage to the male, but sliglitly larger. Wiini 1 .' 6 inches. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Central .Vustralia, 

 Western Australia. 



/"f^HE Grey Falcon is widely distributed over the Australian continent, but appears to be 

 J- nowhere common. Gould described it in the '' Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 

 in 1840, from a specimen given to Gilbert in Western Australia, the latter also procuring this 

 species himself in the vicinity of Moore's Ri\-er. .\ male and female were procured by Captain 

 Charles Sturt's " Expedition into Central .Vustralia," at the Depot on Evelyn Creek, midway 

 between Milparinka and Tibooburra, in North-western New South Wales, Falco iiiclanogcnys 

 and F. snhnigcr also being obtained in the same locality. In the " Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society"-' for 1875, Dr. E. P. Ramsay, writing on the birds of North-eastern Queensland, 

 remarks : — '■ Faho liyfelcucus was met with by Inspector Robert Johnstone of the Herbert River, 



* Proc Zool. Soc, 1S75, p 579 



