l82 



DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



the nape, and the space below the eyes are nearly black ; the back, wing-coverts, 

 and tail some shade of bluish grey, with darker bars ; the primary quills brownish 

 black, with the inner webs barred and spotted with reddish white ; the throat is 

 nearly white, and the breast reddish white, with short dark brown transverse bars ; 

 the remainder of the under-parts, as well as the lower surface of the tail, being 

 marked with more continuous bars of brown and grey. The beak is blue, tending 



PEREGRINE FALCON (J nat. size). 



to black at the tip ; and the cere, legs, and toes are yellow. Such is the general 

 coloration of the typical northern peregrine, which ranges over all Europe, 

 except Iceland and Spitzbergen ; while eastwards it extends across Siberia to 

 China and Japan, and thence to the Malay Islands. It also occurs in North- 

 Eastem Africa, as far as Kordofan, and occasionally straggles as far as the 

 Cape, where, however, its place is normally occupied by the very distinct lesser 

 peregrine {F. 7)iin(n'). Entering India on the extreme north-west, it is replaced 

 in the peninsula by the shahin falcon (F. peregrinator). In Java we meet another 



