08 FALCONING 



" I have invariably found them on cleared ground in the middle of jungles, 

 seated on trees, and once on a fallen hut. The exception to this being when 

 I found them at a spot where several jungle roads meet and form an open 

 space, or on low gravelly hills thinly covered with bushes, and an occasional 

 tree. Their most favourite seat seems to be a dead tree, barked by the Burmese, 

 in the middle of one of their half-cleared cotton fields. I once saw a pair on 

 a tree in a dry rice field, but on every other occasion the ground was covered 

 partially with bushes, cotton plants, &c. I have found them from the level 

 of the Irrawady to the highest cultivated patches in the hills about Thayetmyo, 

 I have never seen one in a large open space or in thick jungle." 



Gen. FalGO. Linn. 



Nostrils round with a central tubercle. First one or two quills notched 

 internally, second quill longest ; tarsus feathered at the knee ; toes long, 

 scutellated. 



64. PalCO COmmimiS, Gm., S. N.p. 270; Less. TraiU, p. 88, 

 pi. 16; Sharpe, Ann. N. H. xL p. 222 ; id. Cat. Ace. B . M. p. 376. Falco 

 peregrinus, Gmel. S. N., vol. i. p. 272 ; Jerdon, Birds of India, vol. i. 

 p. 21; Ibis, 1 87 1 j Gray, Cat. Br. Mus,, p. 1 1 ; Hume, Rough Notes,, vol. 

 i. p. 49; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Hf.,p, 376; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., &c., 

 Sind, p, 1 06. Bhyri (the female), Bhyri Bacha (the male). Hind. Falco 

 atriceps, Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 356 ; id, Rotigh Notes, i p. 58; id. Ibis, 1871, 

 p. 24 ; Jerd- Ibis, 1872, p. 2. Falco Brookii, Sharpe, Ann. N. H. (4) ii. 

 pp. 20, 222, 1873. THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 



Adult Male. Above bluish grey, paler on the rump and upper tail coverts, 

 and barred with blackish. Head, neck, upper part of mantle and wing-coverts 

 blackish, with grey barring, more or less indistinct on the latter. Cheeks, ear- 

 coverts, and a short moustachial band blackish. Forehead, sides of neck, chin, 

 throat, under surface of body and breast white, the latter with a tinge of pale 

 fawn, as also the lower abdomen ; the chest with a few narrow black shaft- 

 stripes almost disappearing in old individuals ; abdomen with some small 

 heart-shaped spots, some similar marks on the under-tail coverts also. Thighs 

 transversely barred with narrow black lines. Quills brownish black, primaries 

 slightly shaded with greyish, the secondaries clearer grey, crossed by dull 

 blackish bars, the smaller median quills tipped white. Tail feathers greyish, 

 broadly barred with black and tipped'with white. Bill bluish, black at the tip ; 

 cere, legs and feet yellow ; claws black ; iris hazel-brown. 



Length. 15 to 16; inches oilmen 1*2 ; wing 12*2 to 127; tail 6*5. {Adult 

 female similar to the adult male, but larger. Length, 17 to 19 ; inches, culmen 

 1*35 ; wing 14-5 ; tail 7-5 j tarsus 2-3.) 



