68 FALCONID.E. 



very little appearance of a tooth, consisting only of a shallow 

 festoon ; the tip of the upper mandible rounded. The nos- 

 tril is oval, and bordered by a fold on the outer edge. The 

 beak is black at the tip, bluish towards the base, and in very 

 old birds yellow ; the colour of the iris is silver-white, but 

 acquires a yellow tinge in very old birds. The beak measures 

 in diameter, from forehead to the tip, one inch and three- 

 eighths, in the arc one inch and a half, and is only three- 

 quarters of an inch thick at the base. The feet are small in 

 proportion to the size of the bird ; the tarsi are feathered for 

 about an inch below the knee, the naked part in front scutel- 

 lated, and measuring together two inches and a half; the 

 outer and middle toes are united by a membrane. 



The adult male bird has the entire head and throat whit- 

 ish grey, lightest upon the forehead and chin, the shafts of 

 the feathers black ; in some specimens the head inclines more 

 to rufous than to grey. The feathers of the head and neck 

 are acuminate, as well as those of the breast and tippet. The 

 quill-feathers, and larger coverts of the wings, are blackish 

 brown ; all the rest of the upper plumage reddish brown ; the 

 central part of each feather dusky. The feathers of the 

 breast and under parts are reddish orange, darkest upon the 

 thighs ; those of the breast are marked down the shaft with 

 a streak of fine black, bordered with white. The tail and 

 upper coverts are of the same orange colour as the breast, 

 with dark shafts ; the outer feathers dusky along the edge, 

 and crossed with dusky lines ; the tail-feathers beneath red- 

 dish white, with seven or eight indistinct bars of a dusky 

 colour, showing through from above. The female has nearly 

 the same colour and markings as the male ; the variations 

 admit of little distinctness in description, although when seen 

 together the difference may be perceived. 



In young birds of the year the feathers of the head and 

 neck are less long and pointed, and are reddish, tipped with 



