j 12 
GREY FALCON.- 
Falco concolcr, Temm. 
PLATE III. 
Entirely cinereous, with the shaft of each feather marked by 
a black stripe ; quills, black ; tail with numerous white 
bars, which are obsolete on the outer webs. 
Falco concolor, Temminck, PI. Col. 
It is seldom we find, among tlie Falcons, that the 
plumage is so strikingly coloured as to distinguish 
a species at first sight. Their general cast of co- 
louring is in spots, stripes, or bands ; mixed up 
with different shades of brown, so that it becomes 
extremely diffi cult to express, by words, all those 
minor shades of difference which the practised eye 
of the naturalist detects at a glance, when the ob- 
jects themselves are brought under comparison. 
The bird before us, however, is one of those whose 
colours are altogether peculiar. Its whole plumage 
is of a deep slate colour, somewhat paler beneath, 
and with a brownish tinge in some parts of the 
upper plumage ; this uniformity is only relieved by 
a slender stripe of black down the centre of each 
feather ; these stripes are darkest and most conspi- 
cuous upon the head, ears, neck, breast, and under 
parts ; they become faint on the lower part of the 
back, wing-covers, belly, and vent, — while they are 
