52 FALCONID/E. 



the outer web, and with a grey silvery tinge above the emarginations ; the 1st 

 to the 5th primaries conspicuoucly notched on the inner webs ; the chin and 

 throat pale buffy brown, the feathers whitish at the base and darker at the tips ; 

 the flanks and thigh coverts pale yellowish brown, the feathers tipped darker ,- 

 the lower tail coverts dingy white, broadly tipped with brown, which in the 

 longer ones is a dark hair brown : in the shorter a dull yellowish brown ; wing 

 lining a sort of umber brown, the bases of all the feathers paler, some of 

 them fawn-coloured and some white. 



Female. The legs, feet, cere and gape a sort of brownish yellow ; the upper 

 mandible and claws blackish horny ; the tip of the lower mandible yellowish 

 horny .; the whole of the head, nape, sides of the neck, cheeks, chin and 

 throat pale yellowish brown ; the feathers white, tipped with yellowish brown, 

 which, owing to the feathers being closely set, is the predominant colour, 

 especially on the top of the head ; the ear coverts a darker brown ; the whole 

 of the back of the neck, back, rump and upper tail coverts, breast, sides, 

 abdomen, vent, and lower tail coverts white, comparatively narrowly tipped 

 with yellowish brown, and many of the feathers, with a narrow, linear, ovate, 

 hair brown shaft spot near the tip. As in the male, the upper tail coverts are 

 ovate lanceolate, very broad and long, and reach to within less than six inches 

 of the end of the long wedge-shaped tail ; most of the scapulars and the tail 

 feathers are a mixture of dull dark and pale dingy yellowish brown, everywhere 

 mottled and freckled with dirty white, which occupies almost the whole of the 

 inner webs of the lateral tail feathers ; the wing coverts, except the greater 

 primary coverts, are wood brown, showing little or nothing of the white bases ; 

 most of the tertiaries are mottled white and dingy yellowish brown, like the tail ; 

 the secondaries are a dull, slightly rufous brown, much mottled on the inner 

 webs with white, and the primaries are dark chocolate brown, greyish above 

 the emarginations ; some of the primary greater coverts are dark chocolate 

 brown and others are a pale rufous brown. (Sir. F. vii. 341 .) 



The following is McGillivray's description quoted in Stray Feathers : 



Male. The cere and bill are pale yellow ; the iris bright yellow ; the tarsi 

 and toes gamboge ; the claws black with a tinge of greyish blue ; the plumage 

 of the head, neck, forepart of the back and breast with the upper wing coverts 

 greyish yellow, the feathers all greyish brown at the base ; of the other parts 

 greyish brown, edged with yellowish grey ; scapulars and feathers of the rump 

 glossed with purple ; those of the abdomen, tibia and subcaudal region inclin- 

 ing to chocolate brown ; the quills and alular feathers brownish black, with a 

 tinge of grey, the inner secondaries inclining to chocolate brown ; the shafts 

 of all white towards the base ; the lower surface of the quills and the large 

 coverts tinged with greyish blue ; the upper tail coverts and the tail are white 

 (generally freckled with dusky grey at the base) ; the down on the breast pale 

 grey, that on the sides darker. 



