FALCONID.E. 



61 



white, with a small rhomboidal cinereous mark in the centre of each feather. The belly and 

 thighs are white, with some minute scattered grey specks. The vent feathers are spotless ; 

 but the under tail coverts have arrow-headed spots larger than those on the belly. The tail 

 beneath is pale ash-grey with a slight tinge of buff, and is less distinctly barred than its upper 

 surface. The linings of the wings are pure white, with the exception of two or three brownish- 

 grey bars on the secondary coverts. 



Form, &c. The bill is small, much compressed, with a narrow ridge and a rather small 



hook. The curve of the ridge is flatly elliptical until near the point, when it terminates in the 

 small arc of a circle. The catting margin of the upper mandible is distinctly lobed. The cere 

 covers more than one-third of the ridge of the bill, and, in conjunction with the lores, is 

 clothed laterally with a short down, over which there is a layer of stiff, bristly black hairs, 

 disposed in a stelliform manner, their ends curving up and meeting with their fellows on the 

 rido-e of the bill, so as to conceal the nostrils. The nostrils are broadly oval and longitudinal. 

 The lower mandible is rounded at the end. The folded wings are rather more than two inches 

 short of the end of the tail. The fourth quill feather is the longest ; the third is scarcely a 

 line shorter ; the fifth is about half an inch shorter than the fourth ; the second a quarter of 

 an inch shorter than the fifth ; the sixth two inches shorter than the latter ; and the first is a 

 little longer than the seventh, which is more than an inch shorter than the sixth : the three 

 followinc ones diminish successively half an inch each. The webs of the primaries are com- 

 paratively narrow at their points, and they are not so broad near the quills as those of the 

 Buzzards, described in the preceding pages, nor so abruptly sinuated on their inner webs. The 

 second to the fifth inclusive have distinct sinuations on their outer webs ; and the first to the 

 fourth inclusive are obliquely sinuated on their inner ones. The tail is long and slightly 

 rounded, the outer feathers being scarcely half an inch shorter than the middle ones. The 

 webs of the plumage covering the belly are much more decomposed than in the typical Buz- 

 zards. The thighs and tarsi are long and slender. The outer thigh feathers reach about half 

 way down the tarsus, and the latter is clothed anteriorly with short feathers for nearly three- 

 quarters of an inch. The rest of the tarsus is covered before and behind with large transverse 

 scales, and it is very little increased in thickness at its junction with the toes. The toes are 

 slender and moderately long : the middle one is the longest ; the outer one is longer than the 

 inner one; and the hind one is the shortest, being only about half as long as the middle one. 

 There is a web between the bases of the middle and outer toes. The claws are very acute, 

 and are grooved beneath : the hind one is the longest and the outer one the smallest, but 

 there is no marked disproportion amongst them. The middle one has a sharp inner margin. 



Dimensions 

 Of the male No. 3. 



Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines. 



Length from the tip of the bill to the end Length of the bill along its ridge . . 1 



of the tail 20 9 „ of the tarsus .... 2 10 



„ of the tail ..... 9 3 „ of the middle toe ... 1 3 



„ of the longest quill feather 13 „ of its claw, in a straight line . 7 



„ of the bill from the angle of the ,, of the hind claw „ . 9 



mouth ...... 1 3 



