126 



British Birds. 



THE COMMON 

 KESTREL. 



{Ccrchnch 

 tinnuiicnlus). 



precisely alike and possess no character b}' which the\' can be told apart. When fully 

 adult the Grey Gyr-Falcon bears great resemblance to a Peregrine Falcon, but the 

 latter has the tail darker towards the end. whereas in the Gyr-Falcon it is of the 

 same grey shade throughout. The toes in the latter bird have also different propor- 

 tions, the outer and inner toes being about equal in length, as in the Kestrels, 

 whereas in the Peregrine the outer toe is decidedly longer than the inner one. 



A young bird of the Grey Gyr-Falcon was shot in Suffolk m October, 1S67, and 

 an adult bird from Sussex is in Mr. Borrer's collection. The home of the species 

 reaches from Scandinavia across Siberia to Arctic America. The nest is built on 

 tcees or on ledges of rocks, and the eggs are four in number, either entirely 

 clouded with light reddish-brown or having a reddish-white ground blotched 

 and spotted with rutous. 



Like the 



G3T - Falcons, 



the Kestrels 



have rather 



weak feet, the 

 outer and inner toes being equal 

 in length, but tlie wings are 

 longer and more pointed than 

 in those birds, and resemble 

 those of the true Falcons. The 

 male Kestrel mav be told by its 

 blue-grey head and tail, the lat- 

 ter having a black band before 

 the end. The female is entirely 

 rufous above, banded with black, 

 this being also the colour of the 

 tail : the head is streaked with 

 black. Young birds resemble 



the old female. The Common Kestrel, or ' W'indhover,' is found ever3'where in the 

 British Islands, nesting in woods in the interior and in cliffs on the sea-shore. It is 

 also found over the greater part of Europe in summer, and extends to Siberia, passing 

 the winter months in Africa and India, but being resident in the Himalayas. As a rule 

 the food of the Kestrel consists of mice and insects, and it is only when hard-pressed 

 for food for its young that it resorts to the killing of small birds; it is, on the whole, a 

 most useful species. It generally adopts the old nest of some other bird in a tree, and 

 when breeding in cliffs appears to make no nest at all. The eggs vary from three to 

 seven in number, and they are generally clouded with rufous and chestnut all over, 

 though occasionally eggs are found in which the ground-colour is white and the rufous 

 blotches are confined to the larger end. The length is about one-and-a-half inches. 



The Common Kestrel. 



