FALCO. 415 



Falcons, and although it is not so much esteemed by Indian 

 falconers as the next species, it is, or was formerly, trained in 

 India to strike herons, storks, cranes, and even in some cases 

 bustards. With one exception, observed by Layard near Jaffna 

 in Ceylon, the Peregrine has not been recorded as breeding in 

 India, accounts of its nesting in or near the Himalayas being 

 doubtful. It generally lays 3 or 4 reddish eggs, speckled or 

 blotched, in a stick nest on a cliff or sometimes on a tree. 



1255. Falco peregrinator. The Shdhin Falcon. 



Falco peregrinator, Sundev. Physiogr. Sallskapets Tidsk. i, p. 177, 

 pi. 4 (1837) ; id. A. M. N H. xviii, p. 454 (1846) ; Blyth, Cat. 

 y.U;Horsf.$M.Cat.i,ip.l8', Layard, A. 3f . JV. J5T. (2) xii, p. 102 ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 25; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 55; A. Anderson, 

 P. Z. S. 1871, p. 678 ; 1875, p. 18 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 237 ; 

 Delme Radcliffe, ibid. p. 363 : Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 382 ; Hume, 

 N. $ E. p. 14 ; Blyth 8f Wald. Birds Burm. p. 58 ; Walden, Ibis, 

 1876, p. 342 ; Hume, S. F. v, p. 500 ; id. Cat. no. 9 ; Hume Sf Dav. 

 S. F. vi, p. 1 ; Davidson $ Wend. S. F. vii, p. 73 ; Ball, ibid. p. 196 ; 

 Legge, Bird* (.'eyl. p. 106; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 370; Reid, S. F. x, 

 p. 3 : Davison, ibid. p. 333 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 216 ; id. in Hume's 

 N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 184 ; Swinh. Sf Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 55 ; 

 Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 11 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. iii, p. 209. 



Falco shaheen, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. x, p. 81 (1839) ; id. Itt. Ind. 

 Om. pis. 12, 28. 



Falco sultaneus, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844). 



Falco atriceps, Hume, Rough Notes, p. 58 (1869) ; id. Ibis, 1871, 

 p. 24 ; Jerdon, ibid. p. 237 ; A. Anderson, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 679 : 

 Hume, S. F. vii, p. 326 ; id. Cat. no. 9 bis ; Gurney, S. F. viii, 

 p. 423 ; id. Ibis, 1882, p. 291, pi. x ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 

 2nd ed, iii, p. 185. 



Shdhin Kohi $ , Kohila c? , II. ; Jawolum, Tel. ; Wallur, Tarn. 



Coloration. This Falcon is distinguished from the Peregrine at 

 all ages by its darker and almost black head and nape, and by the 

 deeper rufous of the lower surface, especially on the breast, 

 abdomen, and lower wing-coverts. The colour of the lower parts 

 varies, however, greatly ; in some birds, especially those from 

 Southern India, it is deep ferruginous or chestnut, whilst in many 

 Himalayan birds it is scarcely darker than in some (exceptional) 

 Peregrines. Except in very old birds there is almost always in 

 the present species some rufous sprinkled over the nape, owing to 

 there being a rufous band on the feathers between the black ends 

 and the white bases. In old birds of F. peregrinator all markings 

 disappear on the breast and abdomen, very narrow bars remaining 

 on the flanks alone ; and bars almost disappear on the pale ashy 

 feathers of the back, rump, and scapulars. 



In young birds of the year the whole upper surface is almost 

 black, the feathers at first having rufous edges, which soon dis- 

 appear by wear ; there is some rufous on the nape ; and the tail is 

 marked with transverse oval rufous spots as in the Peregrine, but 

 they are more numerous ; the chin and throat are pale rufous and 



