72 FALCONING. 



68. Falco juggur, 7- E. Gray, 111. Ind. Orn. ii. pi. xx. ; id. Cat. 

 Mammals, and Birds Ncpaul ; Hume, Rough Notes, vol. i. p. 70 ; Str. F. vol. i. 

 p. 152 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus.,p. 393 ; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, fyc., Sind ; 

 id. Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 67. Falco Kiggur, J erd. Madras Journ. x.p. 80 ; id. 

 111. Ind. Orn. pi. xliv. 1847. Lugger (female), Juggur (male), Hind. THE 

 LUGGUR FALCON. 



Adult Male. Above dusky ashy or slate colour ; crown of head dull rufous 

 with central ashy black striations. Lores, forehead, chin, throat and eyebrow 

 white ; moustachial stripe black ; wing coverts con-colorous with the back, 

 the carpal margin white. The breast white, with a few brown spots. Lower abdo- 

 men, flanks, and thighs ashy brown. Tail clear ashy grey with pale rufous 

 bars on the inner webs and a white tip. 



Length. 15'5 to 17 inches; wing ir8; tail 7; tarsus i'95; culmen I. 

 Female. 17 to 19 inches; wing 13-6 to 15-5 ; tail 8 to 8'5 ; tarsus 1-95 to 2. 



Young, of a chocolate brown above and below ; wing coverts with rufous 

 margins. Head yellowish-fawn or pale rufous. Forehead and eyebrow 

 whitish. Chin and throat white- Under tail coverts dirty white with faint 

 brown markings. 



The Luggur Falcon is the most common of the Lanners, and very generally 

 distributed. It has been recorded from the whole of India; also from 

 Beloochistan and Afghanistan. In the more moist climate, and wooded districts 

 of Malabar, it is found, but not in any numbers. Jerdon remarks, that while 

 the Byri prefers the sea-coast and the neighbourhood of lakes, rivers, and wet 

 cultivation, and the Shaheen delights in hilly and wooded regions, the Luggur, 

 on the contrary, frequents open, dry plains and the vicinity of cultivation. 

 It breeds during January, February and March, particularly in Sind, Punjab, and 

 N.-W. Provinces ; also in the Deccan ; but is partial, for this purpose, to a dry 

 climate. The nest is placed either on a high tree or on a rocky ledge, but in 

 Sind almost always on ledges of high buildings and mosques or church steeples. 

 The normal number of eggs is 4 ; five have, however, been occasionally found ; 

 in colour reddish, brownish, or yellowish brown, thickly spotted and speckled all 

 over with brick red or reddish brown. In size they vary from rS5 to 2*15 in 

 length and 1*48 to 1*65 in breadth ; generally broad ovals, slightly pointed at 

 one end, glossless, of a slightly chalky but compact texture. 



The Luggur Falcon preys chiefly on small birds, also field rats, for which it 

 may be often seen hawking over plains infested by them. It is trained by 

 natives to bring down water-birds of kinds, as, the herons generally, also part- 

 ridges, floriken, quail and snipe, but at this latter it is not dexterous. Jerdon 

 has a footnote stating that it is also used to strike the Houbara, Otis, macqueeni 

 and hares. 



