Ordo RAPTORES.
Kam. KALcCONIDz.
Stirps F'ALconina.

Genus Fatco, Auct.

TAB. II.
FALCO CHICQUERA, Lath.

Falco supra pallide plumbeo-griseus, plumarum rhachibus ngris ; als ngro fascratis ; capite supra,
nucha, strigdque utrinque subrictal rufis ; subtus albus, pectore nigro graciliter lineato, ab-
. ° e A oe ° ° 7 A . . A a
domine nigro_ fasciato ; cauda fasciis nigris gracilibus, alteraque latissuma prope apicem album
notata.
Longitudo corporis, 13+ unc.; ale a carpo ad apicem remigis 2dee, 9; rostri, +; tarsi, 13;

caudce, 64.

Tue drawing illustrative of the present species was taken from the only specimen contained in the col-
lection ; but several specimens subsequently brought to this country by Major Franklin and Colonel Sykes
have afforded further opportunities of examining the species. And from a careful comparison of a consider-
able number of individuals it would appear that the original specimen from which the drawing was taken was
a female in adult plumage ; from which the males offer no other difference than that of the usual inferiority
of size, characteristic of the family.

The Chicquera Falcon appears to be extensively spread through India. In Bengal and the Dukhun it is
reported by the above-mentioned travellers to be a bird of common occurrence.

None of the travellers who have sent to this country specimens of this bird have afforded any information
respecting its habits and manners: nor are there any details on the subject to be found in the published
accounts of the species. From its structure, however, it may be presumed that the Palco Chicquera, notwith-
standing a slight departure, in the somewhat shortened wing, from the more typical form of the family,
partakes of the bold and predatory habits of the genus; the beak beg strong, and the notch so typically
developed as almost to present a double dentation, which added to its short feet and powerful talons indicate
that it takes the same place in the Oriental world that the Peregrine and other typical Falcons do in our
northern regions.

The skin round the eyes and the base of the bill are yellow; the latter becoming black at the tip; the
cere naked. The tarsi also are yellow ; the nails black. The crown of the head, back of the neck, and
mustaches below the eyes are bright ferruginous brown; the cheeks and throat white. The whole of the
back, shoulders and secondaries, are beautiful slate-grey, with irregular, obscure bars ; the primaries blackish
brown. The tail is slate-grey with faint bars of blackish brown, and a broad black band near its extremity,
each feather being tipped with white. The whole of the under surface is white with barb-shaped markings of

brown.