204 DR. O. FINSCH ON BIRDS FROM NORTH-EASTERN 
11. Fatco BarBarus, Linn. ? 
Falco barbarus, Salvin, Ibis, 1859, pl. 6 (ad.) ; Schl. Mus. P. B. Falcones, p. 5.. 
lanarius alphanet, Schl. Tr. sur la Faucoun. p. 23; id. Abhandl. Edelfalken, p. 16. 
? Falco peregrinoides, Riipp. Syst. Uebers. p. 11. no. 25; Heugl. Syst. Uebers. no. 42; id. Journ. f. 
Orn. 1868, p. 199. . . 
a. Ain. July 5th, 1868 (no. 1746). 
The difficulties in determining Falcons, in spite of the recent elucidation of many 
obscure points by ornithologists, have not entirely disappeared; for we are by no means 
satisfactorily informed on this subject, especially as regards the plumage of young birds. 
It is therefore in some instances almost impossible to determine young Falcons with 
any certainty, because the descriptions are often imperfect. Professor Schlegel, one of 
our first authorities on this group of birds, seems to be himself in great doubt on many 
points; at least he has altered his opinion several times. 
The Falcon in Mr. Jesse’s collection, which is undoubtedly a young bird in the first 
plumage, I must refer to F. barbarus, although it agrees very well with a specimen 
labelled F. lanarius nubicus (No. 2, femelle, dans la premiere livrée =F. tanypterus) in 
the Leiden Museum, where I had an opportunity of comparing it. Unfortunately I 
am only acquainted with the adult F. barbarus (as figured in the Ibis, J. ¢.), from which 
Mr. Jesse’s specimen differs considerably. I append a full description of his bird. 
Front whitish, each feather having a very narrow dark central line; forehead and a 
mystacal stripe blackish ; the feathers on the vertex blackish, with rusty-brown margins, 
which become broader on the occiput, where the rusty colour prevails; nape and 
temples fulvous whitish, with large dark brown apical spots; all the upper parts and 
sides of the neck dark brown, the upper tail-coverts and the feathers on the bend of 
the wing margined with fulvous brown, the primaries with six or seven large rufous 
spots on the inner web and a narrow whitish apical margin; secondaries uniform dark 
brown on both webs; some of the shoulder-feathers very narrowly margined with 
rufous; tail-feathers dark brown, with a yellowish white end, about 5” broad; the four 
outer feathers with six to eight broad rufous cross bands on the inner web, being paler 
underneath ; chin and cheeks with dark shafts; the rest of the under parts dark brown 
like the back, each feather having fulvous margins on each side, palest on the throat 
and breast, darker and broader on the vent and sides; tibia pale fulvous, with broad 
dark-brown shaft-stripes, the under tail-coverts the same, but the dark shaft-stripes 
reduced to a narrow central line; under wing-coverts dark brown, each feather with 
two to three rufous spots on each web; bill bluish horn-colour, blackish on the tip; 
cere bluish grey, like the legs; nails black. 
The wings reach to the tip of the tail. 
