43 



FALCO MINOR. 



(LESSER PEREGRINE.) 



Falco peregrinoides, Smith, S.-Afr. Q. Journ. i. p. 235 (1830, nee Temm.). 



Falco minor, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 23. no. 5 (1850). 



Falco communis, var. minor, Sundev. Krit. om Levaill. p. 26 (1857), fide Sharpe, Cat. Accip. 



p. 383. 

 Falco peregrinus, var. cajwnsis, Grill, Zool. Anteckn. p. 48 (1858), fide Sharpe, ut supra. 

 Falco communis minor, Schl. Cat. Mus. P.-B. Falc. p. 4 (1862). 

 Falco barbarus, Blanf. Geol. & Zool. Abyss, p. 288 (1870, nee Linn.). 



Figura unica. 

 Sharpe, Cat. Accip. Brit. Mus. pi. 12. 



Ad. F. peregrino similis sed valde minor, corpore subtus rufesccnte cervino lavato et fasciis angustioribus et 

 inter se propioribus quam in F. peregrino notato. 



Juv. F. peregrino similis, sed minor. 



Adult Male (Smyrna). Resembles Falco peregrinus, but is much smaller; throat and breast white with a 

 warm reddish buff tinge, the latter marked with drop-shaped black spots ; rest of the underparts greyish 

 with a pale warm rufous tinge, very closely barred with black. Total length about 13 inches, culmen 

 l - 05, wing 11-4, tail 55, tarsus l - 8, middle toe with claw 225. 



Young (Tangier) . Resembles the young of Falco peregrinus, but is smaller, the upper parts are paler, and 

 the striations on the underparts are somewhat narrower and more profuse. 



Obs. Specimens from South Africa have the underparts rather more rufous than those from other localities 

 in the series I have examined. Mr. Sharpe (Cat. Accip. p. 384) gives the length of the wing of the 

 young bird from South Africa as 91 inches; but the adult one in skin (spec, b) from that locality is the 

 largest I have examined, having the wing 12 - 3 inches long, that of the female from Abyssinia being 

 rather less. 



Specimens from Morocco and Tangier vary in size as follows — wing irO-11'2, tail 5 - 4-5"6, tarsus 1'75-1'8, 

 middle toe with claw 2"2— 2 - 3. None of these have the sex indicated on the labels, except one, a female, 

 which measures — wing 111, tail 5 - 65, tarsus 1/75, middle toe with claw 2'25 ; and a female from Rhodes 

 measures — wing 110, tail 5 - 6, tarsus L75, middle toe with claw 23. Thus it will be seen that, if the 

 sex is correctly determined, the male from Smyrna, which I have described, is the largest bird of those 

 from northern localities ; but it would in any case appear that the sexes differ but slightly in size. 

 One difference between the present species and the Peregrine, which is somewhat striking, is the length 

 and slenderness of the legs and feet in the present species compared with those of Falco peregrinus. ■ 



This small representative of our Peregrine inhabits Africa and occasionally wanders into Asia 

 Minor and Europe proper. Its headquarters appear to be Southern and North-western Africa ; 



H 



