308 African Zoology. 



throat and breast white, the latter with a few longitudinal black 

 striae; belly dull greyish white with many small irregular- 

 shaped black spots. Eyes brown ; bill bluish ; base of lower 

 mandible, space round eyes, and the legs, yellow. Length 

 thirteen inches. 



Young. Head bluish brown ; feathers finely edged and tipt 

 with rufous ; nape and back of neck variegated blackish brown 

 and tawny white ; back blackish feathers with rufous tips ; chin 

 and throat pure white ; breast and belly tawny, variegated with 

 oblong blackish spots, largest on the flanks ; tail brownish black 

 with seven or eight transverse rufous bands, tips white ; legs 

 and toes greenish yellow ; claws black. 



Inhabits Africa and Europe, not uncommon in South Africa. 



Le Faucon, Buff. pi. enl. pi. 421. The Blue-back Falcon, 

 Penn. Brit. Zool. Falco Peregrinoides, Smith, South African 

 Quarterly Journal, vol. i. p. 235. Spervel of the Cape Colonists. 



Falco biarmicus, Temm. Front and anterior part of crown 

 black, rest of crown and nape rufous ; back of neck, intersca- 

 pulars, back, upper tail coverts, and shoulders, bluish grey, 

 with dark slate coloured transverse bands ; from the eye to the 

 nape a black stripe, and another behind the angle of the mouth ; 

 sides of neck, and all the under parts, pale tawny- white. Bill 

 bluish, the base of the lower mandible yellow ; eyes dark brown. 

 Primaryand secondary wing coverts hoary blue,with dusky grey- 

 white transverse bands ; primary and secondary wing feathers 

 brownish ; the inner vanes, for the greater part of their length, 

 partially crossed by somewhat conical white spots. Tail hoary 

 white, with ten or eleven moderately broad, black bands ; the 

 intermediate spaces thinly sprinkled with minute brownish black 

 dots or lines ; tips of all the feathers white ; cere, legs and toes, 

 yellow ; claws black. Length of male fifteen inches, of female 

 seventeen inches. 



Young. Head rufous, the front and nape variegated with 

 black ; back of neck and inter scapulars blackish, with the 

 feathers finely tipt with rufous ; the black stripes on sides of 

 head less strongly marked than in full-grown specimens. Sides 

 of the neck rufous ; chin and throat tawny-white ; breast and 

 anterior part of belly pale rufous, with a roundish black blotch 

 towards the middle of each feather ; hinder part of belly, under 

 tail coverts, and thighs, pale rufous, without variegations. 

 Primary and secondary wing feathers blackish, with the inner 

 vanes marked by transverse oviform pale tawny spots, all tipt 

 with light rufous. Tail blackish, with seven or'eight irregular 

 transverse rufous bands : all the feathers broadly tipt with;ru- 

 fous. Bill bluish green, with shades of black, and the lower 

 mandible with a very faint tinge of greenish yellow at base ; cere 



