CERCHNEIS. 243 



washed with fulvous, the sides, flanks, and belly are dark slate-gray or 

 bluish gray, and the whole of the under surface below the crop is thickly 

 covered with rather wide, close-set black bars, giving these parts a very 

 dark appearance." 



201. FALCO SEVERUS Horsfield. 



ASIATIC MERLIN. 



Falco severus HORSFIELD, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1, 135; SHABPE, 

 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874'), 1, 397; Hand-List (1899), 1, 274; MC- 

 GREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List ( 1906)', 45. 



Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester) ; Cebu (Bourns d Worcester) ; Luzon 

 (Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor, Worcester) ; Mindanao (Everett, Goodfellow) ; 

 Mindoro (Everett, Bourns & Worcester) ; Negros (Layard, Bourns & Worcester, 

 Whitehead)', Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Eacp., Bourns & Worcester, 

 White) ; Romblon (Bourns & Worcester) ; Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester) ; Si- 

 quijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi 

 (Bourns & Worcester). Malay Peninsula, Burmese provinces, Himalayas, Ceylon, 

 southern Indian Peninsula, Greater Sunda Islands to New Guinea and New 

 Britain. 



"Adult female. Above black, with a slight slaty gray shade, more 

 distinct on the lower back, rump, and tail, the bars on the latter being 

 obsolete; cheeks and ear-coverts entirely black, like head; under surface 

 of body uniform bright chestnut; throat and sides of neck creamy white, 

 the latter with a slight wasji of chestnut; under wing-coverts chestnut 

 like breast, some o the lower ones barred with black; primaries black, 

 with a few rufous bars near the base. Cere, orbits, and feet j^ellow; bill 

 bluish black, yellow at base ; iris dark brown. Length, 343 ; culmen, 24 ; 

 wing, 231; tail, 117; tarsus, 36. 



"Adult male. Similar to, but smaller than the female. Length, 297; 

 wing, 216; tail, 114; tarsus, 29. 



"Young. Similar to the adult, but the breast covered with median 

 tear-shaped black spots on each feather, the tail broadly banded and tipped 

 with rufous, as also are the primaries; nape slightly varied with rufous; 

 throat purer white than in adult." (Sharpe.) 



"A very rapid flyer and usually seen on the wing. Much detested by 

 Spaniards and natives on account of its depredations on their dovecotes 

 and poultry yards." (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 



Genus CERCHNEIS Boie, 1826. 



Smaller than Falco but tail slightly graduated or wedge-shaped and 

 actually longer than in the peregrines; wing pointed, first primary a 

 trifle longer than fourth and decidedly shorter than third, the second 

 longest; tarsus feathered for a short distance in front, the bare portions 

 covered with hexagonal scales, large in front, small on lateral and posterior 

 aspects. 



