268 FALCONHXZE FALCO 



6 1 . Underparts orange-rufous like the thighs, 



with narrow brown streaks F. cuvieri, ad. p. 273. 



1>. Thighs whitish, streaked with brown. 



a 1 . Ear coverts black F.8iibbuteo t jiw.p.%12. 



b l . Ear coverts tawny, narrowly streaked 



with black F. cuvieri, juv. p. 273- 



c. Thighs transversely banded with black and 



white like the abdomen F. ruficolUs, p. 274. 



/r/^v^^ 



503. Falco minor. South African Peregrine. . 



* ^fe /l^fA^J ycJ^r* 



Falco peregrinoides (nee Temm.) Smith, S. A. Quart. Journ. i, p. 235 

 (1830). 



Falco minor, Bp. Rev. Mag. Zool 1850, p. 484; Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 

 131 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 19 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 362 

 [Berg river] ; Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 12 (1872) ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 383, pi. xii (1874) ; Sharpe, ed. La-yard's 

 B. S. Afr. p. 57 (1875) ; Holub &> Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 28 

 (1882) ; Gurney Ibis, 1882, pp. 306, 313 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 145 

 (1896) ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 151 (1899) ; Beichenow, Vog. 

 Afr. i, p. 622 (1901). 



Falco peregrinus, var. capensis, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockli. ii. 

 no. 10, p. 48 (1858). 



Description. Adult male. General colour above, slaty-blue, 

 darkest, almost black, on the nape and shoulders ; most of the 

 feathers of the back and whig-coverts marked with darker transverse 

 bars ; quills dark slate, regularly spotted with very pale fawn ; tail 

 like the back with narrow white tips and a subterminal almost black 

 band and traces of others ; a black moustache patch below the eye 

 between which and the crown is a patch of white, lower surface 

 white tinged with pale fawn, the chest with a few narrow darker 

 fawn shaft stripes, the lower breast and abdomen with narrow spots 

 of blackish forming regular narrow transverse bars on the flanks 

 and thighs, lower surface of tail and wings pale ashy. 



Iris brown ; bill black ; cere and base of both mandibles yellow ; 

 legs bright yellow ; claws almost black. 



Length 17-25; wing 12-25; tail 5.80; culmen 1-15; tarsus 1-90. 



The female is larger ; wing 12-27. A young bird is brown above, 

 the nape somewhat mottled with yellow and most of the feathers 

 edged and tipped with pale tawny; the primaries are spotted on 

 the inner webs and the tail on both webs with pale tawny ; below, 

 pale yellowish-buff, streaked with broad splashes of brown. Iris 

 dark brown. 



