Part 93

Genus CERCHNEIS Boie, 1826.

Smaller than Falco but tail slightly graduated or wedge-shaped and actually longer than in the peregrines; wing pointed, first primary a trifle longer than fourth and decidedly shorter than third, the second longest; tarsus feathered for a short distance in front, the bare portions covered with hexagonal scales, large in front, small on lateral and posterior aspects.

202. CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULUS (Linnæus).

KESTREL.

Falco tinnunculus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 90. Cerchneis tinnuncula Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 425. Cerchneis tinnunculus Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 276; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 308; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 45.

Luzon (Whitehead); Palawan (White). Europe and northern Asia; in winter, Africa and the Indian Peninsula.

"Adult male.--Upper parts brick-red, with a few arrow-head markings of black, larger on the inner secondaries; primary-coverts and quills dark brown, the former narrowly margined with rufous, the primaries notched with white for about two-thirds of their length, the inner primaries and outer secondaries narrowly edged and tipped with buffy white; head and neck clear blue-gray, with narrow black shaft-stripes; forehead and narrow eyebrow buffy white; cheeks silvery gray, inclining to blackish below the eye and on the fore part of cheeks, forming a tolerably distinct moustache; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail clear blue-gray, the latter tipped with ashy white, before which is a broad subterminal band of black; throat and under tail-coverts buff, unspotted; remainder of under surface rufous-fawn; the chest-feathers mesially streaked with black, these dark centers being larger and more oval in shape on flank-feathers; thighs clear rufous unspotted; under wing-coverts white, spotted with black. Bill bluish horn-color, black at tip, yellowish at base; cere, orbits, and feet yellow; iris brown. Length, 317; culmen, 44; wing, 234; tail, 170; tarsus, 41.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male underneath but not so deeply colored. Upper surface entirely rufous, banded with black, with a faint bluish shade on the rump; upper tail-coverts inclining to buff; head rufous, streaked with black; tail rufous, banded with black, the bars not being strictly continuous, tipped with buffy white, before which is a conspicuous broad band of black; facial features and soft parts as in the male. Length, 317; culmen, 19; wing, 234; tail, 165; tarsus, 41.

"Young male.--Resembling the old female but rather paler and more distinctly striped on the breast. The tail first changes, becoming blue like that of the old male; and thus birds are often seen in partial plumage, having the blue tail of the adult male, but retaining the rufous head of the old female dress." (Sharpe.)

Suborder PANDIONES.

This suborder with a single family of two genera is distinguished from the suborder Accipitres by having the outer toe reversible; in addition to this the claws are very greatly curved and the under side of each claw is rounded instead of being grooved or concave as in the hawks and eagles.

Family PANDIONIDÆ.

Characters same as those given for the Suborder.

Genera.

a1. Smaller; front of tarsus covered with small imbricated scales. ... Pandion (p. 245) a2. Larger; part of tarsus covered with large transverse plates. ... Polioaëtus (p. 247)

Genus PANDION Savigny, 1809.

Bill slightly compressed; width of upper mandible at nostril more than its depth; primaries abruptly and deeply cut on inner web and exceeding secondaries by more than length of tarsus; back of tarsus covered with small scales like those in front.

Species.

a1. Much larger; wing, about 500 mm. ... haliætus (p. 245) a2. Much smaller; wing, 460 mm. or less. ... leucocephalus (p. 246)

203. PANDION HALIÆTUS (Linnæus).

EUROPEAN OSPREY.

Falco haliætus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 91. Pandion haliaëtus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 449; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 315; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 45.

Luzon (Worcester, Whitehead); Mindoro (Everett, McGregor, Whitehead); Palawan (Whitehead). Eastern hemisphere.

"Adult.--Above brown, most of the feathers with obsolete margins of paler brown, more distinct on the wing-coverts; primaries black, secondaries brown like the back, the primaries pale, but uniform whity brown below, the secondaries whitish on the inner web, with indistinct bars of ashy brown; tail almost uniform brown, tipped with whity brown, and shaded with ashy externally, the inner web obsoletely barred with ashy brown, a little more distinct below, where the interspaces are whitish; head brown, with white bases to the feathers; a broad white streak from behind the eye running down the sides of the neck; ear-coverts blackish brown; sides of neck uniform with the back; sides of face and entire under parts white, the breast varied with brown centers to the feathers of more or less extent, the chin and fore part of cheeks also slightly streaked with dark brown; axillars and a few of the flank-feathers also marked with rufous-brown like the breast; under wing-coverts buffy white, with dark brown centers, the outermost almost entirely brown, with whitish tips. Cere blue; bill black; feet blue; iris yellow. Length, 610; culmen, 44; wing, 503; tail, 241; tarsus, 61.

"Young.--Glossy chocolate-brown, all the feathers terminally margined with buffy white, these margins somewhat tinged with rufous, and broadest on the secondary quills and upper tail-coverts; crown of head black, with white or fulvous margins to the feathers, giving a distinctly streaked appearance; nape white, not streaked; from behind the eye a broad line of white runs down the side of the neck, slightly streaked with black; below this another line of black feathers, including the ear-coverts, is conterminous; sides of face and entire under parts pure white, somewhat tinged here and there with yellowish buff; under wing-coverts white, the outer ones strongly washed with tawny-buff, and crossed with broad bars of dark brown; primaries black, secondaries chocolate-brown like the back, and tipped in the same manner, all of them whitish at base of inner web, indistinctly barred with pale brown; tail-feathers alternately barred with dark sepia-brown and ashy brown, tipped with whitish, and having whitish shafts; the bars six in number, and more distinct on the inner web, which is buffy white.

"Nestling.--Covered with down of a sooty-brown color, except along the center of the back, along the carpal bend of the wing, on the breast and flanks, where it is dusky white; all the feathers of the back are dark brown, with a broad tip of ochraceous-buff; crown and ear-coverts blackish; eyebrow and throat white.

"Observation.--Ospreys seem to get whiter on the head with age; but the mottling on the breast is at present unintelligible to me. It appears to be strongly marked in all old birds; but the brown centers to the feathers, which give the bird its mottled appearance, are never exactly similar, there being a continued alteration in the pattern of the feather itself. At the same time two young birds, distinguished by the fulvous margins to the upper surface, have not a similar amount of brown on the breast; for in one it is almost entirely absent, while the other has very few markings indeed. The tail becomes more uniform brown with age, so that a strongly barred tail is a sure sign of immaturity." (Sharpe.)

204. PANDION LEUCOCEPHALUS Gould.