184 EALCONIDjE. 



a hole in a dry tree ; on sending a man up he reported the hole to 

 be empty. 



" On the 25th of March, happening to pass this tree, I saw the 

 Falconet fly out and settle on an adjoining tree, where I shot it. 

 I then sent a man up, and while he was examining the hole the 

 other Falconet, which proved to be the female, flew out and set- 

 tled close by, and I also shot her. On enlarging the hole suf- 

 ficiently to admit a man's hand, it was found that there were no 

 eggs, but at the bottom of the hole, which was about 18 inches 

 deep, was a soft pad composed of flies and butterflies' wings, 

 mixed with small pieces of rotten wood. On dissecting the feirale 

 ] found in her a fully-formed hard-shelled egg, but unfortunately 

 broken by the shot. This egg was pure white, without spot or 

 streak of any kind, the texture was fine and close, and when held 

 up against the light it exhibited a very faint yellowish or greenish 

 hue." 



This, I may mention, was near Bankasoon at the extreme south 

 of Tenasserim. It will be noticed that both this species and M. 

 ccentlescens breed in holes in trees, line the bottom with a pad of 

 the wings of Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, and the like, and lay white 



Falco peregrinator, Sundev. The Shdheen Falcon. 



Falco peregrinator, Sundev., Jerd. S. Ind. i ; p. 25 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 9. 



The only egg of this species the true Shaheen that I possess, 

 or indeed have seen, was procured by Mr. Eobert Blewitt on the 

 25th January in the Raipoor district. It measured exactly 2 

 inches in length by 1'43 inch in width. It was therefore com- 

 paratively (for the genus) a very narrow oval egg. It was like a 

 very pale Jugger or Peregrine egg. A pale pink ground, with 

 here and there very faint traces of pale purple clouds, very finely 

 speckled and spotted with deep reddish brown, the specks being 

 comparatively few and very minute over the small end, and some- 

 what larger and much more numerous over the large end, where 

 they are somewhat blurred and more or less connected with each 

 other by irregular smears of a somewhat paler brownish red. 



Dr. Jerdon mentions that the present species breeds on steep 

 and inaccessible cliffs, and that he has seen three eyries one on 

 the Nilghiris, another at the celebrated hill-fort of Antoor, and 

 the third at the great waterfall at Mhow, It lays its eggs, he 

 remarks, in March and April, and the young fly in May and June, 

 when they are caught by falconers *. 



* The Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) is said to have been found breeding in 

 Ceylon by Layard ; and Colonel Biddulph assures us that it breeds in the 

 neighbourhood of Gilgit at about 6000 feet on the face of precipices. En. 



