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jugger, by mistake, for it ; but this was the only specimen seen either by myself or any of our 

 party." Colonel E. Delme Radcliffe states (Ibis, 1871, p. 365), on the authority of the present 

 Ameer of Cabul, Shere AH, that the Saker frequently breeds in Afghanistan ; and Colonel 

 Przevalsky (in Rowl. Orn. Misc.), referring to its occurrence in Northern Mongolia, writes as 

 follows : — " This Falcon was found by us wherever we went, from Kiachta down to the sources 

 of the Yantze-Kiang ; but it was most numerous in winter in the Zachar country and about the 

 Koko-nor, which localities abound with alpine hares ; and these, at least in winter, form its 

 principal food." 



In North-west China, Pere David says, the Saker replaces the Peregrine. He frequently 

 observed it in Mongolia, as well as in Pekin, Chensi, and in Sechuan ; but I do not find any 

 record of its occurrence further east than the above localities. 



Mr. Hume (I. c.) has separated as a distinct species, under the name of Falco hendersoni, 

 what I consider to be nothing but a very old Saker. The character on which he bases this 

 separation is the barring of the upper parts, especially of the tail. Falco sacer, he says, has the 

 central tail-feathers plain or conspicuously marked with from one to ten round or even long-oval 

 spots, but never has a regularly barred tail, whereas Falco hendersoni, both in old and young 

 plumage, has the tail regularly and closely barred. To this statement, however, I must decidedly 

 demur. I have examined a considerable series of examples from various localities, and am firmly 

 convinced that Falco hendersoni is a very old stage of plumage of Falco sacer ; and this to some 

 extent explains its great rarity. In my own collection and that of Mr. E. Hargitt all the birds 

 (shot from the nest and sent with eggs) from the Volga show a tendency to pass into the hender- 

 soni stage of plumage. Both the male and female above described were shot from the same nest ; 

 and the former has the tail very decidedly barred, there being also traces of barring on the upper 

 parts of the body. The female, however, has the central rectrices marked with oval spots and 

 not barred, though the scapulars and some of the wing-coverts show tolerably distinct barrings. 

 In the series in the celebrated collection at Norwich the gradation in plumage between Falco 

 sacer and Falco hendersoni is very apparent. I examined the series there last year ; and Mr. 

 Gurney has quite lately done the same ; and a comparison of our notes shows that we have 

 arrived independently at precisely the same conclusions. Five specimens from Tientsin, Oudh, 

 Syria, Egypt, and the Volga have the upper parts plain and the central rectrices unbarred ; one 

 from the Volga is intermediate between these and Mr. Hume's Falco hendersoni ; and one from 

 the Volga, one from Tarsus, and a third from Athens are in the full hendersoni plumage. " In 

 all the first five specimens," Mr. Gurney writes, " there are some little traces of the commence- 

 ment of the rufous dorsal barring, in the form of small rufous or fulvous spots on the lower 

 scapulars, or on some of the wing-feathers, generally the inner secondaries, especially if the 

 feathers are lifted up to expose the portions otherwise hidden, this being especially the case in 

 the Tientsin specimen, in which these spots are numerous, though the two central rectrices are 

 neither spotted nor barred — a circumstance which I consider very indicative of youth." 



Judging from the specimens I have examined, I find that, in the very young plumage, the 

 Saker has the upper parts very dark, the head very closely blotched, and the tail marked with 

 oval spots, the central rectrices being unbarred and unspotted, and the underparts very closely 

 blotched and striped. From this plumage it gradually merges into the ordinary adult dress, the 



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