426 FALCONIDJS. 



Genus ^SALON, Kaup, 1829. 



In the Merlins and their allies which constitute the genus 

 jEsalon, the wing is even more rounded than in the Jerfalcons 

 (Hierofalco\ the second and third primaries being longest and 

 subequal, whilst the first is considerably shorter, being approxi- 

 mately equal to the fourth. The first two quills are always notched 

 on the inner webs. Lateral toes unequal as in typical Falcons. 



All the species are small, and consist of the Merlin and its 

 American ally and the Indian and African Eed-headed Merlins, 

 which are by some placed in a separate genus, Chicquera. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Crown grey or brown dark-shafted . . < JE. regulus, p. 426. 



b. Crown chestnut AL. chicquera, p. 427, 



1263. JEsalon regulus. The Merlin. 



Falco aesalon, Tunstall, Ornith, Brit. p. 1 (1771) ; Hume, Cat. 



no. 15 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 39 ; Scully, ibid. p. 417 ; C. Swinhoe, 



Ibis, 1882, p. 99 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 17 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, 



p. 151. 

 Falco regulus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, ii, p. 707 (1773) ; Sharpe, 



Cat. B. M. i, p. 406. 



^Esalon regulus, Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 9 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1882, p. 160. 

 Hypotriorchis sesalon, Gray, Gen. B. i, p. 20 ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. 



i, p. 24 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 35 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 157. 

 Lithofalco sesalon, Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 238 ; Hume, Hough Notes, 



p. 89 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 242. 



Dourai $ , Dourela rf , H. ; Retal turumti, Regi, Punjab. 



Coloration. Adult male. Forehead, lores, and sides of the head 

 whitish with dark shaft-streaks; supercilia rufescent, becoming 

 rufous behind and running back to the rufous nuchal collar across 

 the neck ; crown of head and upper parts clear bluish grey, varying 

 1 in depth of tint from quite pale to very dark, the feathers dark- 

 shafted throughout, even on the rufous collar ; quills blackish, the 

 inner webs barred with white except at the end of the primaries, 

 and the outer M^ebs tinged with bluish grey towards the base 

 outside, inner secondaries coloured like the back ; tail bluish grey 

 tinged white, with a broad black cross-band just before the white 

 tip, and generally traces of other black bands ; throat white ; rest 

 of lower parts and sides of the neck whitish, somewhat irregularly 

 tinged with rufous, and with dark brown shaft-stripes that are 

 narrowest in old birds. 



Female. Very old females resemble the male, but these are of 

 very rare occurrence : usually the female differs from the male in 

 having the head dull rufous or brown, dark-shafted ; the upper 

 parts brown with more or less of a grey tinge and often with 

 rufous edges to the feathers ; the tail barred throughout, and the 

 quills with rufous cross-bands ; the nuchal collar and lower parts 

 less rufous than in the male, and the breast and upper abdomen 



