176 ZOOLOGY. 



FALCO NIGEICEPS, Cassin. 

 Plate XIV. 



Falco nigriceps, Cassin, Birds of California and Texas I, 1853, 87. 



Description. — Very similar in general appearance to Falco anatum of North America, and to 

 Falco peregrinus of Europe and Asia, but differs from both in size, in the colors of the young, 

 and in other characteristics. The hill is disproportionately weaker than in either of those birds. 

 Adult. Frontal band of white very narrow ; head, and neck above, and cheeks, clear black with 

 a tinge of cinereous ; other upper parts bluish cinereous, every feather having transverse strips 

 of brownish black, lighter on the vump and other coverts of the tail. Throat and breast pale 

 reddish white; other parts lighter, with circular spots and transverse bands of black, and with 

 a tinge of cinereous on the flanks and abdomen. Tail above pale bluish cinereous, with trans- 

 verse bars of brownish black, and narrowly tipped with white. Patch of black on the cheek 

 very large, and scarcely separated from the same color of the head above and neck. Younger. 

 Entire plumage above, dark brown; many feathers, especially on the rump, tipped and edged 

 with rufous. Tail above brown, with a tinge of ashy, and barred with ferruginous on the 

 inner webs. Under parts pale reddish ferruginous ; paler on the throat ; all the feathers with 

 broad longitudinal stripes of black, and many of them with irregular transverse stripes of the 

 same color, which predominates on the flanks and under coverts of the wings, which latter are 

 marked with reddish-white bars and circular spots. Tibife, with transverse bars of brownish 

 black. Total length, female, (of skin,) about 47 inches, wing 12 to 13, tail 6 to 6^ inches. 

 Male smaller. 



Beautiful specimens of this bird are in the present collection, and we have seen others, which 

 appear to be identical, from California and New Mexico. They are uniformly smaller than 

 Falco anatum, and with the bill comparatively weak. The young bird of the species now before 

 us is of a deeper and different shade of reddish than in that just mentioned, but more resem- 

 bles Falco peregrinator of India, and Falco puniceus of Africa. The cheeks in the present 

 species are as strongly marked with black as in Falco melanogenys of Australia. It is of unu- 

 sual occurrence in Chile, and probably only visits that country in the course of its winter migra- 

 tion from the north. 



TINNUNCULUS SPARVERIUS, (Linn.) 



Falco sparverius, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 128. 



Falco dominicensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 285. 



Falco gracilis, cinnamominus and isabellinus, Sw. Cab. Cy. Birds, Part III, 1838, 281. 



Falco sparverius, (Linn.) Gat, Fauna Chilena, Aves, 227. 



VuiG. Sparrow- Haivk. Cernicalo. 



FiGtJKES. — ViEiLL. Ois. d'Am. Sept. I, PL xii, xiii. 



" Wilson Am. Orn. II, PI. xvi, Fig. 1. 



" AuD. B. of Am. PL xlii, oct. ed. PL xxii. 



" BuFFON, PL Enl. 465. 



In specimens of this bird in the present collection, and in many other specimens from South 

 America that have come under our notice, we have failed to find any characters distinguishing 

 them from the common bird of the United States. It is of frequent occuri-ence in Chile, and 

 has been observed in Patagonia. In the former country it is a constant resident. 



