8 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



abundant, and I found it very common in lat. 58°. In winter it 

 visits Africa, India, and China, and even extends to the Malay 

 Archipelago. 



The Kestrel's pairing season is in April, although the eggs are, 

 seldom laid before early in May. It generally breeds in the 

 thickest woods, and rarely in nests built in isolated trees. It 

 also rears its young on the cliffs by the sea-side, and among the 

 rocks on the moors and the cliffs of limestone districts. 



Six eggs is the number usually found, although, in some cases, 

 the number has been seven, and in others as few as four or five. 

 They are rich reddish-brown, of various shades, upon a dirty or 

 creamy-white ground. They go through all the types of Falcons' 

 eggs ; and in addition some have the colouring matter all massed 

 on the larger end of the egg, others have a ground of dull 

 yellowish chestnut with irregular blotches of intense coffee-brown, 

 whilst others are brick-red with a few minute dots of deep brown. 

 Most eggs of this bird, when newly laid, possess a purplish bloom, 

 which, however, soon fades after exposure to the light. The eggs 

 of the Kestrel vary from 1*7 to 1"45 inch in length, and from T35 

 to 112 inch in breadth. 



THE LESSER KESTREL. 

 (Falco cenchris.)* 



Plate 4, Figs 2, 3. 



Three specimens of the Lesser Kestrel have been taken in 

 England and one in Ireland. Its native home is in the countries 

 of the Mediterranean, whence it ranges during the nesting-season 

 to Asia Minor, the Caucasus and "Western Turkestan. In winter 

 it migrates to South Africa. 



It breeds towards the end of April, and I found several nests 

 containing young birds late in June. The nests are extremely 

 slight, and frequently the eggs are laid in a hollow scratched in 

 rubbish. 



Five seems to be the usual number of eggs, but I have clutches 

 of four, and one of seven. The eggs of the Lesser Kestrel are 

 very round, almost globular, with but little difference between the 

 larger and the smaller ends. Their general ground-colour is pale 



* Cerchneis cenchris — Sharpe, Handb. Brit. B. II., p. 204. 



