Part 92

"Adult.--Above bluish gray, darker on the head and nape, pale on rump and upper tail-coverts; feathers of the head and nape, the scapulars and sometimes other parts of the upper plumage dark shafted, and all feathers except those of the head and hind neck with dark cross-bands; forehead whitish; a broad cheek-stripe from beneath eye black; primaries blackish, the inner webs, except near the end, closely barred with white; secondaries ashy gray with darker cross-bands; tail dark gray or blackish, with numerous ashy gray cross-bars, closer together and paler toward the base, extreme tip and borders near tip whitish; lower parts white with a rufous tinge, a few brown or black spots on lower breast and middle of abdomen, and narrow dark bars on flanks, lower wing-coverts, thighs, and under tail-coverts.

"Young birds are very dark brown above, the feathers edged with rufous, the buff bases of the feathers showing about nape; tail-feathers with about six transversely oval rufous spots on each web, forming imperfect cross-bars; primaries as in adults; cheek-stripe narrower; lower parts white, buff, or rufescent, spotted except on the throat, with broad brown elongate median stripes, becoming broad spots on the flanks.

"After the first molt peregrines are brownish gray above and gradually acquire a pure slaty-gray back. The spots and bars on the lower parts are much broader at first and grow smaller and narrower with age, the drops on the breast become narrow lines and ultimately disappear altogether, the bands fade off the under tail-coverts and in very old birds only small scattered specks remain on the abdomen and triangular markings on the thigh-coverts. The general tint of the lower surface varies from almost white to light rufous.

"Bill bluish, black at tip; cere yellow; iris brown; legs and feet yellow. Length of a female, about 483; tail, 190; wing, 368; tarsus, 53; middle toe without claw, 57; bill from gape, 33. Males are considerably smaller, length, about 406; wing, 317." (Blanford.)

An old female, taken in Tarlac Province, Luzon, was 470 in length; wing, 360; tail, 195; culmen from base, 30; tarsus, 55; middle toe with claw, 68. Iris brown; cere, legs, and skin about eyes light lemon-yellow; nails black; bill black, its basal third very pale yellow.

199. FALCO MELANOGENYS Gould.

AUSTRALIAN FALCON.

Falco melanogenys Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1837), 139; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 385; Hand-List (1899), 1, 274; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 298; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 45.

Luzon (Heriot). Australia.

"Adult male.--Head and nape deep black, including the entire sides of face, cheeks, and ear-coverts; interscapulary region blackish, with a few obsolete transverse bars of bluish gray; rest of upper surface bluish ashy, barred all over with blackish, some of the bars, especially of the upper tail-coverts, assuming a triangular form; upper wing-coverts somewhat washed with brown, the gray shade being more perceptible on the greater series; quills black, the primaries outwardly shaded with gray, outer secondaries narrowly tipped with creamy white, the inner ones almost entirely bluish gray, with obscure blackish marblings and cross-bars; tail blackish, with a narrow ashy white bar at the tip, the upper surface shaded with gray, clearer toward the base, bars on center rectrices eleven in number, not including the broad subterminal black band; throat and upper breast deep creamy buff, the latter with a few median black shaft-stripes; rest of the under surface buffy white, closely but narrowly barred across with black, sides of body and thighs shaded with a bluish gray tinge; fore part of breast and under wing-coverts with a strong fawn-colored shade. Bill greenish at base, horny black at tip, under mandible deep orange; feet yellow; claws black; iris dark. Length, 376; culmen, 30; wing, 300; tail, 152; tarsus, 51.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but larger and more richly colored; underneath deep ferruginous, paler on the chest, the cross barring narrow and irregular, sometimes confined to a small subterminal spot. Length, 419; culmen, 37; wing, 338; tail, 168; tarsus, 51.

"Young male.--Above brownish, the feathers edged with fulvous, especially distinct on the wing-coverts and secondaries; hinder neck marked with pale tawny; lower back and rump alternately barred with ashy and dark brown, the subterminal bar being somewhat triangular in shape; tail brown, similarly barred with ashy and tipped with fulvous; quills dark brown, with paler edgings; under surface buffy white, inclining to deep fawn on the breast and abdomen, which are longitudinally streaked with blackish brown, the flanks, under wing-coverts, and axillars barred with the same color. Cere, bill, and feet paler than in the adults.

"Young female.--Brown, head and cheeks blackish; feathers of upper surface spotted and tipped with rufous-fawn; underneath deep buff, inclining to rufous on the abdomen, the streaks on the chest dart-shaped, on the abdomen oval, all very broad and distinct." (Sharpe.)

200. FALCO ERNESTI Sharpe.

ERNEST'S FALCON.

Falco ernesti Sharpe, Ibis (1894), 545; Hand-List (1899), 1, 273; Grant, Ibis (1895), 438; (1896), 530; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 44. Falco atriceps Clarke, Ibis (1895), 476.

Luzon (Heriot, Whitehead); Negros (Keay, Whitehead); Sibuyan (McGregor ); Siquijor (Celestino). New Guinea; Greater Sunda and Fiji Islands.

Diagnosis.--Similar to Falco melanogenys but blacker; beneath everywhere shaded with ashy gray; wing-lining and axillars black, crossed with narrow white bars. Length, 394 mm.; wing, 295; tail, 140; tarsus, 48.

"The adult male [collected by Hose at 1,400 meters on Mount Dulit, Borneo] is a remarkably beautiful specimen, and is evidently of the same race of peregrine as Mr. Pretyman's bird from the Lawas River, but is not quite so red on the chest. The closeness of the barring of the under wing-coverts and axillars is remarkable and gives the species a much blacker look than F. melanogenys while no specimen of the last name falcon in the [British] Museum has the under tail-coverts and thighs bluish gray like the sides of the body. Whether Falco ernesti (as I have named the bird, after Mr. Ernest Hose) is confined to Borneo I can not yet tell, but I think that it is very likely to be found to be the resident form of all the Indo-Malayan Islands, as a specimen procured by Mr. Maitland-Heriot in Manila seems certainly referable to it." (Sharpe.)

Grant says: "In adults of F. ernesti, though the breast is occasionally washed with fulvous, the sides, flanks, and belly are dark slate-gray or bluish gray, and the whole of the under surface below the crop is thickly covered with rather wide, close-set black bars, giving these parts a very dark appearance."

201. FALCO SEVERUS Horsfield.

ASIATIC MERLIN.

Falco severus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1, 135; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 397; Hand-List (1899), 1, 274; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 45.

Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Luzon (Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor, Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Goodfellow); Mindoro (Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Layard, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). Malay Peninsula, Burmese provinces, Himalayas, Ceylon, southern Indian Peninsula, Greater Sunda Islands to New Guinea and New Britain.

"Adult female.--Above black, with a slight slaty gray shade, more distinct on the lower back, rump, and tail, the bars on the latter being obsolete; cheeks and ear-coverts entirely black, like head; under surface of body uniform bright chestnut; throat and sides of neck creamy white, the latter with a slight wash of chestnut; under wing-coverts chestnut like breast, some of the lower ones barred with black; primaries black, with a few rufous bars near the base. Cere, orbits, and feet yellow; bill bluish black, yellow at base; iris dark brown. Length, 343; culmen, 24; wing, 231; tail, 117; tarsus, 36.

"Adult male.--Similar to, but smaller than the female. Length, 297; wing, 216; tail, 114; tarsus, 29.

"Young.--Similar to the adult, but the breast covered with median tear-shaped black spots on each feather, the tail broadly banded and tipped with rufous, as also are the primaries; nape slightly varied with rufous; throat purer white than in adult." (Sharpe.)

"A very rapid flyer and usually seen on the wing. Much detested by Spaniards and natives on account of its depredations on their dovecotes and poultry yards." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)