ACCIPITRIN^ 21 



of the abdomen ; vent, under tail-coverts, and thigh-coverts pale 

 unspotted rusty. 



The adult male has the whole upper plumage unspotted ashy, 

 pale ashy beneath ; chin and throat whitish ; wings dusky-black ; 

 thigh-coverts, and under tail-coverts, bright rusty-red. 



Dr. Jerdon remarks that the Red-legged Falcon is not common 

 in India, but that he has killed it in Central India ; it is nearly 

 certain that he mistook it for 19 bis, Cerchmis amurensis, Radde. 

 This latter Major Butler procured at Belgaum. The points of 

 difference are as follows; 



VESPERTINA, AMURENSIS, 



ADULT <$. 



Under wing-coverts and axillaries. 

 Bluish-grey. Pure white, 



Breast, 

 Bluish-grey. Grey, 



ADULT 9 . 

 Under surface. 



Rufous, either uniform or with Creamy- white ; the breast 

 slight remains of blackish shaft broadly streaked and the flanks 

 lines. barred with black ; abdomen, 



thighs, and under tail-coverts 

 uniform pale rufous. 



Juv. 

 Head. 



Rufous with narrow shaft lines Dark bluish, with black shaft 



of black ; forehead whitish ; under streaks ; forehead fulvous ; un- 



surface of body buff, streaked der surface of body buff, 



down the centres of the feathers broadly streaked with black on 



with brown ; no bars on the the chest and barred on the 



flanks ; tail bluish. flanks with the same color; tail 



bluish. 



SUB-FAMILY, Accipitrinse. 



Bill short and stout, curving from the base, with a blunt tooth 

 or festoon in the upper mandible ; wings short, rounded ; tail 

 longish, ample, and rounded ; tarsus long, scutellate in front, or 

 nearly smooth in some; toes long; claws long, curved and acute, 

 unequal ; inner-claw large. 



GENUS, Astur, Lac. 



Bill short, stout, curved from the base, compressed, with a 

 prominent festoon or rounded tooth in the upper mandible, near 

 the middle ; nostril large, oval, oblique, near the culmen ; lores 

 thickly clad with minute feathers ; wings short, rounded ; first 

 quill short, fourth and fifth quills usually equal and longest t ; 

 tail long, far exceeding the points of the wings, nearly even or 



