136 FALCONIM. 



grey ; with the occasional exception of a mottled brown spot 

 on the nape of the neck, the last remaining portion of the 

 former hrown plumage ; the primaries nearly black, the first 

 the shortest and the lightest in colour, the longest not reach- 

 ing to the end of the tail ; the chin and throat ash-grey ; the 

 breast and belly lighter in colour, becoming bluish-white ; 

 thighs and under tail-coverts white ; under surface of the 

 tail pale greyish-white, with traces of five darker bars ; the 

 legs and toes yellow ; the claws black. 



Young males are brown, like the female to be next de- 

 scribed, but begin to change to the grey, which distinguishes 

 the sex, in their second autumn ; young males are smaller 

 in size, and have the irides lighter in colour than those of 

 females at the same age. It is probable that young males 

 are capable of breeding in their second year, before they have 

 acquired their grey plumage, as two brown birds, apparently 

 performing the duties of parents, have been shot at the same 

 nest. 



The female measures about twenty-one inches in length ; 

 wing from the anterior bend fifteen inches ; the bill almost 

 black ; the cere greenish-yellow, the irides reddish-brown ; 

 the top of the head and back of the neck umber-brown ; the 

 feathers of the latter with lighter reddish-brown edges, form- 

 ing a collar of spots on the neck ; over the eye a light-coloured 

 streak ; ear-coverts uniform umber-brown ; the ruff round 

 the face formed by short feathers of mixed brown and white 

 colours, passing from behind the ear on one side round 

 under the chin to the back of the ear on the other side ; the 

 back and wings uniform umber-brown ; the smaller wing- 

 coverts margined with ferruginous ; primaries blackish-brown ; 

 upper surface of the middle tail-feathers uniform umber- 

 brown ; the lateral tail-feathers dark-brown, barred with 

 lighter reddish-brown ; the tip of all the feathers pale fer- 

 ruginous ; the throat, breast, belly, thighs and under tail- 

 coverts, reddish-buff colour, each feather having an elongated 

 reddish-brown patch in the middle, with a still darker shaft ; 

 those of the thighs and the under tail-coverts being lighter in 

 colour, and less decidedly marked than those of the body ; 



