LITTLE FALCON. 
Falco frontatus Gould, Synops. Birds Austr., pt. in., pi. 42, 1838 (Apl.), (N.S.W.) ; id., Proc. 
Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1837, p. 139, 1838 (Dec.), (N.S.W.) ; id., Birds Austr., Vol. I., 
pi. 10, 1848 ; Sturt, Exped. Centr. Austr., Vol. II., App., p. 14, 1849 (Central) j 
Diggles, Orn. Austr., pt. xi., 1867 ; Witmer Stone, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., 
p. 146, 1913. 
Falco rufiventer Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1837, p. 97, 1838 : nomen nudum. 
HypotriorcMs frontatus Gray, Genera Birds, Vol. I., p. 20, 1844. 
Hypotriorchis rufiventer Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av., Vol. I., p. 25, 1850 : nomen nudum. 
Falco suhhuteo frontatus Schlegel, Mus. de Pays-Bas, Vol. II., Falcones, p. 22, 1862. 
Hypotriorchis lunulatus Gray, Handl. Gen. Sp. Birds, pt. i., p. 20, 1869 ; Gurney, Ibis 1882, 
p. 153 ; id., List Dium. Birds Prey, p. 103, 1884. 
Falco lunatus Sbarpe, Hist. Coll. Nat. Hist. Brit. Mus., Vol. II., p. Ill, 1906. 
Falco lunulatus lunulatus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 252, 1912. 
Falco lunulatus murchisonianus Mathews, ib. (East Murchison, West Australia). 
Falco lunulatus apsleyi Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., p. 33, 1912, Melville Island. 
Falco frontatus frontatus Mathews, ib., p. 189, 1913, 
Falco frontatus murchisonianus Mathews, ib. 
Falco frontatus apsleyi Mathews, ib. 
Falco longipennis longipennis Mathews, ib., Vol. II., p. 7, 1913. 
Falco longipennis murchisonianus Mathews, ib. 
Falco longipennis apsleyi Mathews, ib., p. 8 ; id., Ibis 1914, p. 109. 
Falco melanotus MeUor and White, Emu, Vol. XII., p, 161, 1913 : nomen nudum ; 
S. A. White and Mellor, ib., p. 164 (First descr.). Flinders I. 
Distribution. Australia ; Tasmania. 
Adult male. General colour above slate-grey, rather darker on the head and lesser upper 
wing-coverts and slightly paler at the tips of the inner secondaries and the upper 
tail-coverts, the feathers everywhere having dark shaft-lines ; middle tail-feathers 
and outer webs of the lateral ones barred with dark brown, the inner webs of the 
outer feathers barred and tipped with pale rufous ; primary- and secondary-quills 
have pale rufous ovate markings on the inner webs, the second primary-quiU incised 
on the outer web and the first on the inner web ; sides of face blackish ; lores, 
chin and throat buffy- white ; the black of the hinder face is skirted with rufous 
which extends on to the feathers on the sides of the hind-neck ; remainder of the 
under-surface rufous with dark shaft-lines to the feathers ; sides of the bod}) and 
upper abdomen barred with pale slate-grey ; under wing-coverts similar but paler, 
the light markings taking the form of large buffy-white spots. BiU bluish, tip 
darker, cere yellow, orbital space bluish-grey, eyes dark brown, feet mealy yellow. 
Total length 327 mm. ; culmen 14, wing 245, tail 128, tarsus 34. Figured. Collected 
at Derby, North-west Australia, on the 25th of June 1886. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but larger. Wing 270 mm. ; culmen 17, tarsus 
37. Collected on Parry’s Creek, North-west Austraha, on the 10th of February, 
1909, by Mr. J. P. Rogers. 
Immature. Are rather like a small edition of Rhynchodon, being blackish-brown above 
with rufous-buff edges to the feathers ; under-surface dark reddish with much 
darker centres. As the birds get older the feathers of the back become grey with 
whitish edges ; the under-surface becomes lighter. In the next stages they become 
adult. 
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