128 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Species and Races. 



A. First and second quills equal and longest; first with inner web emarginated, 

 second with inner web slightly sinuated. Young with longitudinal stripes on 

 the lower parts. Adult and young stages very diiferent. 



1. F. communis. Wing, 11.50- 14.30 ; tail, 7.00-8.50; culmen, .72-.95; 

 tarsus, 1.G5-2.20; middle toe, 1.80-2.30.^ Second quill longest; first 

 shorter than, equal to, or longer than third. Adnlt. Above plumbeous, 

 darker anteriorly, lighter and more bluish posteriorly ; anteriorly plain, jios- 

 teriorly with darker transverse bars, these growing more sharply defined 

 towards the tail. Beneath ochraceous-white, varying in tint fi'om nearly 

 pure white to deep ochraceous, those portions posterior to the jugulum 

 transversely barred, more or less, with blackish or dark plumbeous ; anterior 

 lower parts (from the breast forward) without transverse bars. Young. No 

 transverse bars on the body, above or below. Above blackish-brown, 

 varying to black, the feathers usually bordered terminally with ochraceous 

 or rusty ; forehead usually moi'c or less washed with tlie same. Beneath 

 ochraceous, varying in shade; the whole surface with longitudinal stripes of 

 blackish. Inner webs of tail-feathers and primaries with numerous trans- 

 verse elliptical spots of ochraceous. Hah. Cosmopolitan. 



a. Young dark bi-own above, the feathers bordered with rusty or 

 whitish. Beneath white or ochraceous, with narrow longitudinal 

 stripes of dusky. Inner webs of tail-feathers with transverse bars. 

 Auriculars white, cutting off the black of the cheeks with a pi'om- 

 inent " mustache." 



Beneath pure white, the breast and middle of the abdomen 

 without markings. Wing, 12.75; tail, 7.30; culmen, .80; 

 tarsus, 2.00 ; middle toe, 1.80. Hah. Eastern Asia. 



var. r ie n tali s .^ 



Beneath pale ochraceous, the breast always with longitudinal 



dashes, or elliptical spots, of dusky ; middle of abdomen 



barred. Wing, 11.50-14.30; tail, 7.00-8..50; culmen, .72 - 



.95; tarsus, 1.65-2.20; middle toe, 1.80-2.30. Hah. Europe. 



var. CO mm un is .^ 

 Beneath varying from deep ochraceous to nearly pure white, 

 the breast never with distinct longitudinal or other spots, 

 usually with none at all. Middle of alxlomen barred, oi' not. 

 Wing, 11.30-14.75; tail, COO -9.00; culmen, .75-1.00; 

 tarsus, l.CO-2.10; middle toe, 1.75-2.20. Hah. America 



(entire continent) var. a n a t u m . 



Auriculars black, nearly, or quite, as far down as the lower end of 

 the " mustache." 



Beneath varying from deep ochraceous to white, the breast 

 streaked or not. Lower parts more uniformly and heavily 



1 Extremes of more than one hundred specimens measured ! 



^ Falco communis, var. orientalis (Gmelin). Falco orientalis, Gmel. S. N. 1789, 264. — 

 Lath. Ind. Orn. 22. — Ib. Gen. Hist. I, 162. — Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 76. — Strickl. Orn. Syn. 

 I, 1855, 83. Two specimens examined, from Jajjan (Nat. Mus., 1 ; Philad. Acad., 1). 



^ Falco communis, var. communis (Gmeli>!). Falco communis, Gmel. S. N. 1789, 270. — 

 ScHLEG. Krit. iibers, p. 14. — Ib. Mus. Pays-Bas, 1862, Falcones, 1. — Pelz. Ueb. der Geier 

 mid Talk. 1863, 23. Falco pcrcgrinus, Gmel. S. N. 1789, 272. — Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 81, et 

 AucT. Seventeen si)ecimens of this race have been examined,. They are distributed as follows : 

 Nat. Mus., 5 ; Bost. Soc, 6 ; Philad. Acad., 4 ; Cambridge Mus., 2. Total, 17. 



