FALCONIDS. 17 
feather (very old birds gradually lose these dusky 
marks, and the whole of the upper parts become 
plain brick-dust red); tail-coverts bluish grey; tail 
the same, with a broad bar of dusky near the end, 
tips of the feathers white, shafts black; quills dusky, 
very narrowly edged with yellowish white; breast 
light buff, slightly tinged with bluish grey, in the 
centre of each feather a narrow streak of dusky, 
broader at the base; belly buff, spotted with dusky ; 
elongated feathers on the thighs and the under tail- 
coverts buff; legs yellow. 
The plumage of the female is as follows :—Head 
and neck reddish brown, streaked with dusky; part 
under the eyes and the ear-coverts nearly black; 
back and scapulars brick-dust red, not so bright as 
in the male, with broader dusky triangular spots; 
secondaries and tertials the same ground colour, 
only barred with dusky; quills dusky, edged with 
dull white ; tail-coverts dull bluish grey, barred with 
dusky; base of tail-feathers the same; centre of the 
feathers the same as the back, barred with dusky, a 
broad bar of dusky at the end; tips dirty white; all 
the under parts dull buff, streaked with dusky in 
centre of each feather. 
Young males of the year resemble the females; 
young birds from the nest are funny hittle balls of 
white down. 
The eggs of this species vary much, and, as I be- 
fore remarked, may easily pass for those of the 
C8 
