Geranospiza cærulescens, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 121; White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 623 (Salta). Geranospizias cærulescens, Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 81.
Description.—Above plumbeous, nape and upper tail-coverts slightly mottled with white; wing-feathers black, with a large white spot on the inner webs of the primaries; tail black, with two broad ochraceous white bars and white tip: beneath plumbeous, abdomen and under wing-coverts with irregular white cross bands; bill plumbeous; feet yellow: whole length 16·5 inches, wing 9·5, tail 8·0. Female similar, but not so distinctly coloured, and larger.
Hab. South America.
White obtained an example of this species at Campo Colorado, near Oran, and another on the Upper Uruguay.
[303.] FALCO PEREGRINUS, Linn.
(PEREGRINE FALCON.)
Falco peregrinus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 121; Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 470. Falco communis, Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 376.
Description.—Above plumbeous, lighter on the rump, more or less distinctly barred with blackish; head and cheeks blackish: beneath white, tinged with cinnamomeous, abdomen and thighs sparingly traversed by narrow black cross bands; under surface of wings white, regularly banded with ashy black; bill plumbeous; cere yellow; feet yellow, nails black: whole length 20 inches, wing 14·0, tail 6·7. Female similar, but larger.
Hab. Old and New Worlds.
The Peregrine Falcon is found throughout the Argentine Republic, but is nowhere numerous, and is not migratory; nor is it “essentially a duck-hawk,” as in India according to Dr. Anderson, for, it preys chiefly on land birds. It is solitary, and each bird possesses a favourite resting-place or home, where it spends several hours every day, and also roosts at night. Where there are trees it has its chosen site where it may always be found at noon; but on the open treeless pampas a mound of earth or the bleached skull of a horse or cow serves it for a perch, and here for months the bird may be found every day on its stand. It sits upright and motionless, springs suddenly into the air when taking flight, and flies in a straight line, and with a velocity which few birds can equal. Its appearance always causes great consternation amongst other birds, for even the Spur-winged Lapwing, the spirited persecutor of all other Hawks, flies screaming with terror from it. It prefers attacking moderately large birds, striking them on the wing, after which it stoops to pick them up. While out riding one day, I saw a Peregrine sweep down from a great height and strike a Burrowing-Owl to the earth, the Owl having risen up before me. It then picked it up and flew away with it in its talons.