122 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



strong toothing of their bills, they correspond with the 

 normal species of the group with which they are asso- 

 ciated. 



The Little Falcon is smaller even than the Kestril, 

 the adult female measuring only eleven inches in length, 

 and about twenty-three in the expansion of her wings. 

 Her head is of a bluish ash-colour, with a rufous patch 

 on its upper part. A black band passes from each 

 eye downwards towards the throat, two spots of the 

 same colour occur upon each side of the head, and 

 another upon the back of the neck ; these are all placed 

 upon a white ground, which extends over the cheeks, 

 the throat, and the sides of the neck. All the upper 

 parts are of a deep reddish brown, transversely striped 

 with narrow black bars ; the quill-feathers are blackish 

 brown, spotted on the inner webs with rusty white. 

 The under parts are yellowish white, marked with lon- 

 gitudinal streaks of brown on the breast and abdomen. 

 The two outer feathers of the tail are white on their 

 outer webs ; and have a white margin to the inner, 

 extending to about an inch from their tips, and marked 

 by two black spots. The rest of the tail-feathers are 

 of the same colour with the back for about two-thirds 

 of their length, and are then crossed by a broad black 

 band, beyond which they are tipped with white. The 

 cere and legs are of a bright yellow ; the bill bluish 

 with a black tip ; the iris dusky ,• and the claws black. 

 The male is, as usual in the tribe, somewhat smaller ; 

 those parts which in the female are white, have ifi it a 

 rufous tinge ; the brown streaks of the under surface 

 are converted into black ; and the wing-coverts and tips 

 of the secondary quill-feathers are slate-coloured. Its 

 colours are in general deeper and more decided than 

 those of the female. In some individuals the breast is 

 of a plain rufous white without spots. 



