FALCONID.E — THE FALCONS. ]35 



most favorably received npinion, liowovor, seems to bo that there are two 

 spiHios on tlie Ainovican coiitiiioiit, and tliat one of tlicse, the northern one, 

 is identical with tlie Huvopean bird. l5oth these views I hold to be entirely 

 erroneous ; for after examining and comparing critically a .series of more 

 than one liundred .specimens of tlie.se l)irds, from every jxirtion of America 

 (except eastern Soutii America), including nearly all the West India Islands, 

 as well as numbers of localities throughout eontinencal Xortli and South 

 Amerii-a, I lind tliat, with the exception of the nielanistii; littoral race of the 

 nortiiwest coast (var. pcnhu), they all fall under one race, whrdi, though itself 

 exceedingly variable, yet possesses cliaracters whereliy it may always be dis- 

 tinguisiied from the Peregrine of all portions (jf the ( )ld World. 



There is such a great amount of variability, in size, colnrs, and mark- 

 ings, that the /'. uii/rirqt.i, Cassin, must be entirely ignored as being based 

 upon specimens not distinguishable in any respect from typical anatmii. 

 Judging from the characters assigned to the F. cKssiid by its describer (who 

 evidently iiad a very small series of American specimens at his command), 

 the latter name must also most prolialily fall into the list of .synonymes of 

 anutuin. 



Slight as arc the characters which separate the Peregrines of the New 

 and Old World, i. e. tiie immaculate jugulum of the former and tlio streaked 

 one of the latter, tliey are yet suiKciently constant to warrant their separa- 

 tion as geographical races of one species ; along with wliicli the F. vicla- 

 no(jcn,ys, tJould (Australia), F. minor, Bonap. (South Africa), F. oricntalis, 

 (Jmel. (E. Asia), and F. calidus, Lath. (Southern India and East Indies), must 

 also rank as simple geographical races of the same species. Whether the F. 

 caUiUis is tenable, I am unable to state, f(jr f have not seen it ; but the others 

 appear to l)e all sufliciently differentiated. The /'. rndama, Verreaux (Gray's 

 Hand List, p. V.\ No. 170), Mr. Gurney writes me, is the young female of 

 vai'. miiioi: Whether the /'. percffriiuttor, Sundevall (Gray's, Hand List, No. 

 16!)), is another of the regional forms of /'. conmmim, or a distinct species, I 

 am not able at present to say, not having specimens accessible to me for 

 examination. 



]\Ir. Cassin's type of " nvjriveps" (13,85f), i, July), from C.'iiile, is before 

 me, and upon comparison with adult males from Arctic America presents no 

 tangilile dilferences beyond its smaller size ; the wing is a little more tlian 

 half an inch, and the middle toe less than the eighth of an inch, shorter than 

 in the smallest of the North American series, — a discrepancy slight indeed, 

 and of little value as the sole specific character; the plumage being almost 

 precisely similar to that of the specimen selected for the type of the descrip- 

 tion at the head of this article. In order to show the little consecpience to 

 be attached to the small size of the individual just mentioned, I would state 

 that there is before me a young bird, received from the National Museum of 

 Chile, and obtained in the vicinity of Santiago, which is precisely similar in 

 plumage to the Nevada specimen described, and in size is even considerably 



