PALCO PEREGRINUS. 103 



paling on the scapulars into fulvous ; front of the crown and the forehead whitish or fulvous, with the centres of 

 the feathers blackish ; sides of the hind-neck feathers marked with the same ; shafts of the scapulars and upper 

 tail-coverts black, and the tips of the latter part deeper than elsewhere ; quills brownish black, barred on the inner 

 webs with rufous-grey ; tail cinereous brown, crossed with incomplete bars of rufous- or fulvous-grey and tipped 

 deeply with whitish. 

 Cheeks and moustachial streak blackish brown, the white portion of the ear-coverts streaked with the same ; chin, 

 throat, and entire under surface white, in some slightly tinged with rufescent on the lower parts, and boldly 

 streaked from the chest downwards with umber-brown ; the markings are usually broader on the flanks, and in 

 very many examples, even at this age, have a bar-like form ; on the under wing-coverts the brown predominates, 

 the white markings being confined to the tips. 



Distribution. — The Peregrine was first recorded from Ceylon by Layard, who gives an account [loc. cit.) 

 of shooting three specimens at Pt. Pedro in the month of January. Doubt has been thrown by the late 

 Dr. Jerdon and others on Layard's identification, chiefly on account of the latter's statement that he found 

 them nesting ; bnt I have carefully examined the two specimens that still exist in the Poole collection — an adult 

 and an immature bird; and there they are, veritable Peregrines, in spite of their having been found breeding 

 in so strange a latitude as Ceylon. It appears to confine itself principally to the sea-coast during its visit to 

 Ceylon, which is of course during the north-east monsoon. During the latter part of 1872 a pair frequented 

 the Fort-Frederick cliffs at Trincomalie ; but, fortunately for themselves, eluded several attempts I made to 

 procure them ; they tenaciously kept to one place on the face of the great " Sami " rock, where they commanded 

 any approach to their haunt either by land or sea. In February 1874 Mr. R. Pole, of the Ceylon Civil Service, 

 shot a fine female at Puttalam, which is now in the British Museum, and was the first procured since Layard's 

 time, as far as I am aware. In October of the following year I failed in killing one which frequented the dead 

 trees in the bed of the newly-restored tank at Devilane ; but on the 28th of the same month I succeeded in 

 shooting a female on the cliffs at Fort Frederick. During the cool season of 1876-77 another example, also a 

 female, judging by its size, was observed by myself on two occasions in the cinnamon -gardens near Colombo ; 

 and in December of the same season I met with and wounded a second at the top of Allegalla Peak. 



Beyond this latter locality, I do not know of any place in the mountain-zone in which it has been observed. 

 This fine hill, which is one of the bulwarks of the mountain-range of Ceylon, rises 3400 feet sheer out of the 

 low country, and consequently furnishes the present species with a seasonal shelter and the next with a 

 permanent home. 



The Peregrine is a cold-weather visitant to the peninsula of India, the Laccadive and the Andaman Islands ; 

 but a good many birds, probably young, remain behind in India, and take up their quarters on the borders of 

 extensive jheels and tanks, attracted by the quantity of wildfowl and waders, which form their chief sustenance. 

 It arrives, says Jerdon, in India, about the first week in October, and departs again in April, and during its 

 visit is less abundant on the west coast than on the east. It is common in Burmah, and finds its way, 

 according to Mr. Hume's observations, to the Andamans via Cape Negrais. Professor Schlegel records it 

 from Sumatra ; and on the east coast of China Mr. Swinhoe says that it is a permanent resident. Pere David, 

 however, remarks that it is driven by the Saker out of the south of China. It is not uncommon in Japan. 

 It is spread throughout Central Asia, extending northwards into Siberia, and, according to Dr. Scully, remains 

 about Yarkand even in the winter. Canon Tristram found it all times of the year in suitable localities on the 

 coast, but to the eastward of the watershed of Central Palestine he never observed it. 



It is distributed throughout the continent of Europe to the extreme north, and it occurs likewise in the 

 islands of the Mediterranean. It is found chiefly on the coast-line of Northern Africa, being, however, not 

 very abundant in Egypt, though it is, according to Mr. T. Drake, numerous in Tangiers and Eastern Morocco ; 

 southward it extends its range to Natal and the Cape. From the Canary Islands MM. Berthelot and Bolle 

 record it; but it does not seem to have been noticed in Madeira. In the New World it enjoys a very wide 

 range ; commencing in Greenland it extends down the east coast to South America, and spreads across the 

 continent to Vancouver Island, and thence along the entire Pacific coast of the continent to Peru, being 

 replaced in Chili and to the south of that country still by Falco cassini, a species somewhat akin to the 

 Australian Peregrine, F. melanogenys. It is not my province to go so minutely into its distribution as to 

 record those localities from which it is absent ; but from the above sketch of its habitat it will be seen that 

 the Peregrine has one of the widest ranges of the birds of prey, rivalling even the Osprey in its wanderings. 



