THE FALCONS. 
l8l 
I. THE PEREGRINE FALCON. FALCO PEREGRINUS. 
Falco peregrinus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. i (1771) ; Macg. Br. B. 
iii. p. 294 (1840); Newton, ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 53 
(1871); Dresser, B. Euv. vi. p. 31, pi. 372 (1876); See- 
bohm, Brit. B. i. p. 33 (1883); B. O. U. I.ist Br. B. p. 
102 (1883); Saunders, Man. I3r. B. p. 334 (1889); Lil- 
ford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xii. (1890). 
I'ahv communis, Gm. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 376 
(1874). 
Adult Male. — General colour above blue-grey, much paler 
towards the rump and upper tail-coverts, the upper surface 
barred with black, the bars on the rump and upper tail-coverts 
more or less heart-shaped ; the head, neck, and upper mantle 
blackish, with grey bars, more or less indistinct on the mantle ; 
cheeks, ear-coverts, and a moustachial band blackish ; fore- 
head whitish; sides of neck wliite, forming a patch of white, 
separating the ear-coverts from the hind-neck ; under surface 
of body white, with a tinge of pale fawn-colour on the breast 
and lower abdomen ; the throat unspotted, and the chest with 
a few narrow bars of blackish, taking the form of spots in the 
centre of the breast, and of narrow darl-shapcd lines on the 
under tail-coverts; the (;uills brownish-black, the primaries 
slightly shaded with greyish, the secondaries clearer grey, 
crossed by dull blackish bars, the smaller median quills tipped 
with white ; tail-feathers grey, broadly barred with black and 
tipped with white, the bars more obscure towards the tip of 
the tail, which is darker than the basal portion; cere and 
eyelids yellow; bill blue, blackish towards the tip; feet yel- 
low, the claws black ; iris dark hazel-brown. 'I'olal length, 
15 inches; cuhnen, i'2; wing, i2-o-i27; tail, 6'S ; tarsus, 
205. 
Adult Female. — Larger than the male. Total length, 17 
inches; cuhnen, i'35 ; wing, i4'5 ; tail, 7 5 ; tarsus, 2^3. 
Young Birds. — ^Brown, shaded with grey on the upper surface, 
the feathers of which are edged with rufous ; head and neck 
rusty-bulf, the sides of the crown and occiput, the nape and 
hind-neck, the feathers behind the eye, and the moustachial 
line mottled with blackish ; under surface of the body rusty- 
