194 



Wing S 184-192, ? 205-218 mm. ; ^ above 

 dark slate colour, with distinct black shaft- 

 stripes, the head, mantle, and wing-coverts 

 darker ; hind neck mottled with rufous 

 buff ; upper tail-coverts paler grey ; tail 

 black, tipped with whitish and crossed with 

 3 slate grey bands ; cheeks and throat 

 whitish, with narrow streaks of black, 

 except on latter ; below ochraceous buff to 

 white, with blackish brown shaft-streaks, 

 broadest on the flanks ; thighs more reddish 

 with narrow black stripes ; $ much browner 

 above ; tail umber brown with 4 incomplete 

 buftish white bands. 



*299a. Falco columharius suckleyi Ridgw., Bull. 

 Essex Inst., v., p. 201 (1873). [Shoalwater 

 Bay, Washington.] 

 Suckley's Merlin. 



Wing c? 186-191, ? 205-213 mm. ; S above 

 much darker ; head, mantle, and wings 

 black ; rump and upper tail-coverts paler 

 slate ; tail black, the grey bands nearly 

 obsolete and hardly apparent on central 

 feathers ; below with markings heavier 

 and darker ; $ above and below darker ; 

 tail blacker, the light bars nearly obsolete 

 on central feathers. 



N.W. America 

 (Sitka to Brit. 

 Columbia) ; in 

 winter S. cas. to 

 Venezuela. 



299b. Falco columharius richardsoni Ridgw., 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1870, p. 145 

 (1871). [Mouth of Vermilion River, S. 

 Dakota.] 

 Richardson's Merlin. 



Wing S 195-212, ? 205-225 mm. ; S above 

 much paler bluish grey than F. c. colum- 

 harius, with black shaft-lines to all the 

 feathers ; tail with 4 bands of greyish 

 white, the intermediate black bars partly 



Gt. Plains of W. 

 North America 

 (Saskatchewan 

 Valley to 

 N. Dakota) ; 

 in winter to 

 N.W. Mexico. 



