132 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



F. punicus has been found nesting on several of the Mediterranean 

 Islands during the months of April and Maj'. The eggs, three or 

 four in number, are pale reddish or yellowish-red, closely covered 

 all over with dark rufous-brown spots and blotches, and measure 

 on an average 49 X 40 mm. 



FALCO BARBARUS, Linnaeus. 

 BARBARY FALCON. 



Falco barbarus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 125 (1766) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus. i, p. 386 ; Koe7iig, J. f. O. 1895, p. 198 ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 

 1898, p. 454. 



Gennaja Barbara, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 55 (1867). 



Descriijtion. — Adult male, spring, from Marocco. 



Forehead rufescent-buff ; crown, nape, and hind neck blackish-brown, 

 the feathers mostly with dark centres, and the nape with some rufous 

 feathers ; broad moustachial patch sooty-black ; back, scapulars, wing- 

 coverts, and secondaries bluish-grey, with darker bars and shafts ; primaries 

 dark brown, with rufescent bars on the inner webs ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts bluish-slate, barred with darker slate ; tail the same, and tipped with 

 creamy-buff; chin, throat, and upper breast creamy-white, tinged with 

 rufous ; abdomen the same, but more highly tinged with rufous, and 

 slightly spotted with small dark brown drop-like marks ; sides of body and 

 flanks dove-grey, barred with dark brown. 



Iris dark brown ; bill slate, darker at the tip and yellowish at the base ; 

 cere and feet bright yellow. 



Total length 14-50 inches, wing 11, bill 1-10, tarsus 1-65. 



Female similar in plumage to the male, but rather lai'ger. 



Young male, spring, from Tunis. 



Forehead rufescent-buff, slightly striated with black ; crown blackish, 

 tinged with i-ufous ; nape and hind neck rufous, striped with black ; rest of 

 the upper plumage Ijlackish, the feathers margined with rufous; tail blackish, 

 barred and tipped with rufous ; conspicuous moustachial patch black ; chin, 

 throat and sides of the neck rufescent-buff; breast and abdomen rufous, 

 striped with rather fine streaks of black ; thighs rufous-buff, slightly striped 

 with brown ; crissum and under tail-coverts rufescent-buff'. 



Soft parts almost the same as in the adult male. 



Total length 14 inches, wing 10-25, bill 1-10, tarsus 1-50. 



