Stray Feathers/Volume 1/November 1872/Falco Barbarus in India
Falco Barbarus in India.
The occurrence of this species, heretofore believed to be confined to the Southern Mediterranean littoral, in India, is a matter of much interest; and as it must now be included in the Indian Avifauna, the following abstract of its synonymy will be useful to Indian Ornithologists:
Falco Barbarus, Linn. The Barbary Falcon.
Accipiter Falco tunctanus Briss Orn. I, p. 343, (1763) Falco Barbarus Linn Syst Nat p. 125, (1766) Gmel p. 272. (1789) Lath Ind Ori p. 33, (1790) Syn I, p. 72, (1781) Gon Hist B1, p. 82 B, (1829) Alphanet Schz Tr. de Fauconnerie Punions Levazill Jun Exp. Sci d'Algérie. Gennaja Barbarus Bonap Cat Ois a Fur. et de l'Alg. Barbary Falcon Gentl. Recre p. 208, (1677) Falco Pelegrinoides Temum PL. Col. 479.
All the synonymes but the last, I quote from Mr. Alfred Newton, as given by Mr. Salvin (Ibis, 1859, p. 188). As to the identity of this species with Temminck's Pelegrinoides, no possible doubt exists in my mind. His description, which I transcribe, agrees in the minntest particulars with both my birds. He says "the forehead presents a mixture of rufous and dull white. This part of the head is encircled by a black" (dark slaty in mine,)." horse-shoe-shaped band, of which tho lateral branches pass over the eyes, their extreme points joining in front of the eyes, the moustachial stripes, which extend along the sides of the neck. The occiput and nape are covered by a rufous half-collar, marked with three black spots, of which the centre one forms a band on the nape. The back and the wings are a light bluish grey, with large spots and irregular bars of bluish black.
"The tail which is a lighter grey than the back, is barred transversely with black bands, very narrow towards the bases of the feathers, but widening gradually towards their ends, the tips of which are white.
"The chest is pure isabelline" (in mine, slightly rufous creamy.) “The flanks, vent, and abdomen are of the same color; but the feathers bear very narrow longitudinal striae and little triangular black spots. The base of the beak is yellow, but the point blue. The eere and the feet are beautiful yellow, and the orbital skin orange. The male is about 14.3 inches (he says a little more than 13 French inches which are equal to 14.24 English inches.) The female not larger than the male F.Peregrinus."
I defy any one to write in as few words a more absolutely accurate description of my birds than the preceding, except in the one single point, that the horse-shoe in my birds is dark slaty and not black. I can add nothing to the description. The nearly white chin, throat, and sides of neck, the spotless rufescent creamy breast, the tiny triangular spots of the abdomen, the huge, broad, rufous collar with the three dark spots, and the small size serve to distinguish this species from every other yet observed in India. The upper surface is as pale as a very old Babylonicus, but the lower surface, which in this latter species grows darker as the bird grows older, is far paler than in any adult Babylonieus I have yet seen, and I have examined a good many. I have now two specimens, and both are exactly alike, except as regards size. The male was procured early in 1872, by Dr. Stoliczka, in Cutch; the female was shot by F. R. Blewitt, Esq., in the Nursingpoor district (Central Provinces,) on the 16th December, 1869. None of us distinguished these birds—all of us set them down as very pale Babylonicus, and it was only when I came to compare then with my specimens and others kindly lent for comparison of this latter species, that I fully realized that they were distinct: then I referred to the measurements and then Temminck's figures and Salvin's in the Ibis (which latter is excellent, though in my birds the bars on the sides have almost all become mere triangular spots) occurred to me; and once on the right track, I soon saw that there was no possibility of mistaking the identity of this beautiful, and for its size most powerful, little falcon. In both specimens the sexes were ascertained and recorded by, I need not say, careful observers. The female was measured in the flesh, and I append her dimensions as well as a few of those of the male taken from the dry skins. It will be seen that while the wings agree well enough with Mr. Salvin's measurements, the female bird as measured in the flesh was very considerably longer than he estimated his from the dry skin.
Dimensions.—(Female killed on the 16th December, 1869, Nursingpoor.) Length, 15-5 inches; expanse, 36-4 inches; wing, 11.4 inches; tail, 6 inches; tarsus, 18 inch; mid toe to root of claw, 1.8 inch; its chow straight, 0.7 inch; hind toe, 0-8 inch its claw, 0.78 inch; inner toe, 'l ineh : its claw, 0.68 inch; bill straight from edge of cere to point, 0.7 inch; from gape, l'l iuch; width of gape, 1.1 inch ; height at front at margin of cere, 0.12 inch; length of cere, 0.3 inch; closed wings extend 1-9 inch beyond end of tail. Lower tail coperts fall short of end of tail by 1-25 inch; Ist quills, 0-35, 3rd quills, 0:0, 4th quill, 1:1 inchies shorter than 2nd, which is longest. Exterior tail feathers, 0-4 inches, shorter than central ones. Weight, 1 lb. 2 oz.
(Male killed January, 1872, in Cutch) Length, (actual of skin, 12.75 inches, say in life about) 14 inches; wing, 10-S incles; tail, 5 inches; tarsus, 1.6 inches, actnally feathered in front for about 0.6 inclı; mid toe to root of claw, 1.03 inch; 1st primary, 0-3 inch; 2ud, 0-55, and 4th, l'15 shorter than the 2ud, which is longest.
The great size of the feet of the male, as compared with the size of the whole bird, is very conspicuous,