The adult has the whole of the upper and under surface and wings grey, with a narrow line of black down the centre of each feather; a narrow ring of black nearly surrounding the eyes; primaries brownish black, which colour assumes a pectinated form on a mottled grey ground on the inner webs of those feathers; tail-coverts grey, barred with brownish grey; tail dark brownish grey, crossed with bars of dark brown; irides dark brown; cere, orbits, gape, base of the bill, legs and feet brilliant orange-yellow; the yellow becoming paler from the base of the bill, until it meets the black tips of both mandibles; claws black. The young birds have the upper surface mottled brown and grey, and the under surface nearly white, and more strongly marked with black than in the adult. The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size. [Illustration: FALCO MELANOGENYS: _Gould_. _J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._ ] FALCO MELANOGENYS, _Gould_. Black-cheeked Falcon. _Falco Peregrinus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 183. _Falco melanogenys_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 139; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III. _Blue Hawk_, Colonists of Western Australia. _Wolga_, Aborigines of New South Wales. _Gwet-ul-bur_, Aborigines of the mountain and lowland districts of Western Australia. The present bird, like the _F. hypoleucus_, may be classed among the noble Falcons, being closely allied both to the Peregrine of Europe and the Duck-Hawk of North America, to both of which it assimilates also in its bold and rapacious habits, a character which renders it a favourite with the Aborigines, who admire it for its courage in attacking and conquering birds much larger than itself. Like its American congener it preys eagerly upon ducks, and Mr. Gilbert informs me that he has seen it attack and carry off the _Nyroca Australis_, a species at least half as heavy again as itself. Thus we find in this Falcon a bird well adapted for the sport of Falconry, which though fallen into disuse in Europe, may at some future time be revived in this new and rising country, since its lagoons and water-courses are well stocked with herons and cranes, and its vast plains are admirably suited to such pastime. The introduction of hounds for the purpose of chasing the native dog (Dingo) and the Kangaroo has already taken place in Australia, and perhaps it is not too much to look forward to the time when the noble science of Falconry shall be resorted to by the colonists. A finer mews of birds could not be formed in any country than in Australia, with such typical Falcons as the _F. hypoleucus_, _F. melanogenys_ and _F. frontatus_.