EGGS OP BRITISH BIRDS. 



and beautifully marbled with deep purplish red, or finely dusted 

 over the entire surface with minute specks of blackish-brown. 

 The size varies from 1"G5 to 1*5 inch in breadth. 



THE KED-FOOTED FALCON. 



(Falco vespertinus.)* 



Plate 4, Fig. 10. 



More than twenty occurrences of this Falcon in Great Britain 

 have been recorded. It nests in Hungary and in Southern Russia, 

 eastwards to the Yenisei Valley in Siberia, and winters in South 

 Africa. 



The Red-footed Falcon breeds in colonies, occasionally five or 

 six nests being found in one tree. It is said that they rarely, if 

 ever, build a nest, but appropriate the old ones of Crows or 

 Magpies, especially preferring those of Rooks after the latter 

 birds have done with them. 



The number of eggs varies from four to six. In shape, size 

 and colour, the eggs of the Red-footed Falcon approach very 

 nearly to those of the Common Kestrel. As the result of a careful 

 comparison of 147 eggs of the former with 289 of the latter, 

 Goebel arrives at the following conclusions, viz., that the eggs of 

 the Kestrel are coarser-grained, have much more lustre, and are, 

 on an average, larger, and not only absolutely, but proportionately 

 heavier. The colour of the Kestrel's eggs is a darker and browner 

 red compared with the yellower red of the eggs of the Red- 

 footed Falcon. The eggs of the latter bird vary in length from 

 1'6 to 125 inch, and in breadth from 1*2 to 1 inch. 



THE COMMON KESTREL. 



{Falco tinnunculus.)i 



Plate 4, Fig. 5. 



The Kestrel breeds almost everywhere, being equally abundant 



in well-wooded districts and rocky moors. It likewise nests in 



nearly every part of Palsearctic regions, and is common up to lat. 



60°. Further north it becomes rarer. In Asia it is equally 



* Cerchneis vespertina—Shaxpe, Handb. Brit. B., IP, p. 201 (1895). 

 f Cerchneis tinnuncuhts — Sharpe, t. c. p. 201. 



