358 LESSER KESTREL. 



migrant to Europe, has been obtained as far nortli as Calvados in 

 Normandy; Anhalt in Germany, and has probably occurred on 

 Heligoland. According to Taczanowski, it is abundant during the 

 breeding-season in the southern provinces of Poland, but does not 

 reach W'arsaw. To Savoy, and even to the south of France, it is 

 only an occasional visitor, and statements respecting its breeding 

 on this side of the Pyrenees require confirmation ; while it is not 

 common on the mainland of Italy, though abundant and partially 

 resident in Sicily and some other islands of the Mediterranean. In 

 the southern parts of the Spanish Peninsula it is very numerous, 

 especially in Andalucia, where a few remain through the winter, 

 though the majority arrive in February and leave early in October. 

 In Greece and the south-east of Europe it is common in summer, 

 and since 1877 thousands have annually invaded the Orenburg 

 district, where, either as a consequence or a coincidence, the Red- 

 footed Falcon has become rarer. Eastward it is found as far as 

 Bokhara ; while an allied species, F. pekifie?isis, breeds in China 

 and winters in India. Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt and North 

 Africa are regularly visited by the Lesser Kestrel in summer, while 

 its migrations in the cold season extend to Cape Colony. 



No nest is built, but the eggs are deposited in holes in cliffs, banks, 

 walls or roofs of inhabited buildings as well as in ruined towers, 

 churches &c., and sometimes old nests of other birds in trees. In 

 Andalucia, Col. Irby found eggs as early as April 26th, and Dr. 

 Kriiper has taken them by the end of that month in Greece. The 

 complement is 4-5, exceptionally 7 ; the ground-colour is usually 

 yellowish-white, mottled with much paler reddish-brown than are eggs 

 of the Common Kestrel: measurements i"4 by i"i in. The food 

 consists of insects, especially cockchafers and other beetles, and 

 grasshoppers ; the stairs and other approaches to the towers fre- 

 quented by this and the larger species being often covered with a 

 deep accumulation of wing-cases and ejected pellets of indigestible 

 matter; small lizards are also eaten. The cry has been syllabled 

 as vev-ai, and also as psche, psch, psche, wsche. 



The Lesser Kestrel much resembles our common species, but is 

 smaller in size and has ivhite clatvs. The male has no black spots 

 on the back, and the innermost secondaries are slate-grey instead 

 of chestnut. Length 12 in. ; wing 9-1 in. The female can only 

 be distinguished from the Common Kestrel by her smaller size and 

 her white claws : length 12-25 i'"*- J ^^'i'lg 9"2 in. 



