IN JERDON OR STRAY FEATHERS. 329 



12.— Falco babylonicus, Gumey. 



Young Male. — Length, 16 inches ; expanse, 38 inches; weight, 

 12 ozs. ; wing, 11"87 inches ; the second primary the longest ; 

 tail of 12 leathers ; length from vent, 6 inches ; tarsus, 

 (feathered for - 5 inches, in front), 1'87 inches ; bill, straight, 

 1*06; along curve, 1*25 ; from gape, 1*19 ; width at gape, 

 1-19. 



Legs and feet bright yellow, whitish at the joints of the 

 reticulated scales of the tarsus ; claws horn black ; middle 

 toe very slender and elongated ; irides dark brown ; edges 

 of the lids greenish yellow, with tiny dark lashes ; membrane 

 of the orbits pale greenish. 



Cere pale sea-green, with, only a tinge of yellow on the 

 ridge ; bill pale bluish green ; points and culmen horny 

 bluish black. 



Plumage. — Forehead buffy white ; feathers dark shafted ; 

 line over the eye continued round the back of the head, 

 whitish or fulvous white ; feathers dark shafted ; whole crown 

 of the head brown, a few feathers in centre, towards the front, 

 very broadly margined, the rest very narrowly margined, with 

 fulvous or buffy white ; the nape below the white stripe 

 darkish brown, in the centre, the feathers margined with buffy 

 white, and with a patch of white on either side, the feathers of 

 which have dark spots towards the tips. The whole of the rest 

 of the back of the neck, upper back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts a nearly uniform brown, with a faint tinge of slaty, 

 and all the feathers tipped and margined with fulvous white, 

 very narrowly towards the head, and more broadly towards the 

 points of the scapulars ; the hue of the back of the neck is 

 slightly darker ; the quills are much the same colour, but 

 somewhat more bluish ; all the quills have a number of incom- 

 plete bars, or oval spots, of rufous white on the inner web ; 

 the last five primaries, the secondaries, and the tertiaries have 

 each two or three tiny rufous white spots, on the outer webs 

 also ; and the greater coverts of the secondaries and tertiaries 

 have similar small inconspicuous spots on both webs, and all 

 the secondaries and tertiaries, aud the last few primaries, are 

 narrowly tipped with buffy white. The rump and lower back 

 are a somewhat paler and more sandy brown, margined with 

 pale rufous ; the upper tail-coverts are a still more sandy 

 brown, tipped and margined with dingy white, and with one 

 or more incomplete bars of fulvous white. The tail feathers 

 are brown, paler and sandier on the centre feathers, and darker 

 and more slaty on the outer feathers, all narrowly tipped with 

 dirty white, and all with six or seven ^-inch broad transverse 



