424 NOTES ON FALCO ATRICEPS 



crossed by darker bare of slaty black, increasing in width as 

 they approach the tip, the sub-terminal one adjoining the whit- 

 ish tip being about twice as broad as the one that precedes it, 

 and about four times the breadth of those near the base : the 

 number of transverse bars on the central rectrices is eleven. 



The under surface, from the chin to about the lower edge of 

 the sternum, is fulvous white, increasing in intensity as it ex- 

 tends downwards, the chin being almost pure white, and the 

 opposite or sternal extremity of this fulvous plastion being a 

 dull rufous. This plastion is immaculate, except a very few small 

 black spots towards its lower boundary, and it should be added 

 that it extends about two inches lower at the centre of the 

 breast than it does at the sides. All the parts below the fulvous 

 plastion, the flanks, tibiae, abdomen and crissum, are marked 

 with narrow dark bars, between which are pale intervals of ful- 

 vous tinged with grey, the fulvous tint predominating along 

 the centre of the abdomen and crissum, as well as on the inner 

 side and front of the thighs, and the grey hue prevailing else- 

 where, and not only modifying the complexion of the inter- 

 spaces, but also affecting the transverse bars and rendering them 

 slate colored rather than black. The under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries are pale fawn color, crossed with dark brown, and in 

 places very slightly tinged with grey. 



I have taken the following measurements from this speci- 

 men :— 



I have only seen two specimens (both of which are adult) 

 that seem to me to be indubitably identical with the type of 

 F. atriceps. One of these is a male from the Jullunder district of 

 the Punjab, which is preserved in the Norwich Museum, and 

 the other is a female, presented to the British Museum by Cap- 

 tain Piuwill who obtained it at Simla, and briefly referred to 

 in the article on Falco peregrinator in Captain Legge^s work on 

 the Birds of Ceylon. 



The specimen from the Punjab in the Norwich Museum 

 appears to me only to differ from the type of F. atriceps in the 

 following particulars : — The fulvous white on the sides of the 

 neck extends on to the lower hinder portion of the ear-coverts, 

 being there co-mingled with black on the same feathers, 

 but with the fulvous white predominating ; the feathers of the 

 nape are not rufous at the base ,• the slate color of the wing- 

 coverts, scapulars and back, is darker, and in consequence, 

 the blackish transverse bars, though perceptible, are less dis- 



