153 



307b. 



Slightly smaller ; wing (J 9 in. ; above 

 with red of mantle very much paler ; 

 below^ paler fawn colour and uniform 

 without spots, except a few on sides in 

 less mature birds. 



Cerchneis naumaniii turkestanicus Zarudny, Turkestan ; 

 Mess. Orn., 1912, p. 114. [Russian Tur- S. in 

 kestan.] ■ winter to 



Somali- 

 land.* 



Length ad. 10-11, wing 7.50-8.00 in., 

 tail 5-6 in. ; head slaty, crown usually 

 rufous ; above rufous, more or less barred 

 with black (according to age) ; tail with 

 subterminal band of black and white tips ; 

 outer feathers more or less white, with one 

 or more extra partial bands of black on 

 inner webs (according to age) ; below 

 huffish white, the chest pale cinnamon 

 fawn, more or less finely spotted with 

 black on sides of body (according to age). 

 [Specific distinctions : crown generally 

 rufous ; chest washed with rufous ; sides 

 spotted.]! 



* I have described this form from a presumed typical (^ from Samarkand, 

 May 1st, 1908, alt. 2,000 ft., D. Carruthers coll., in the Brit. Mus. coll. An 

 example in the Brit. Mus. coll. from Somaliland, very pale and unspotted below, 

 is as pale above as the Samarkand bird and is evidently referable to this form ; 

 the line of migration to N.E. Africa being a quite natural one. Examples 

 from Central and S.E. Africa are however C. n. naitmanni. 



t Opinions differ greatly as to the specific and subspecific value of the 

 American Kestrels, but I think it desirable to give specific rank to the typical 

 race of each of the three groups of forms, and I have pointed out the principal 

 characters on which I base these species. Some ornithologists appear to me 

 to have failed to grasp the most important factors in determining the subspecies 

 of these groups of forms, and to have attached undue importance to tail 

 markings and the spotting of under parts, characters which vary with maturity 

 and require to be considered with great caution. The spotting below is 

 common to the less mature birds of all three groups, but disappears with age 

 entirely in the isabellina group and varies in the other two, while the rufous 

 on crown is likewise common to all three when immature, but disappears 

 in the isabellina and cinnamomina groups, j^et is usually retained in the 

 sparveria group. The markings of the outer pair of tail feathers and the 

 width of the subterminal tail band are most unreliable characters in them- 

 selves, as a series of old and young of both sexes in my collection from one 

 district in Venezuela shows, 



