202 ALT, EN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



yellow; iris brown. Total length, 12*5 inches; culmen, 175; 

 wing, 9*2 ; tail, 67 ; tarsus, i'6. 



Adult Female. — Differs from the male in being rufous above, 

 banded with black ; on the rump a bluish shade, which 

 overspreads the tail in very old individuals ; head rufous, 

 streaked with black ; tail rufous, banded with black, the bands 

 not always continuous, the tip buffy-white, with a sub-terminal 

 band of black. Total length, 12-5 inches; culmen, 075 ; 

 wing, 9'2 ; tail, 6*5 ; tarsus, t'6. 



Young Birds — In first plumage the young male and female 

 are alike, and both resemble the old hen-bird, but are rather 

 paler, and have more distinct stripes on the back. The first 

 signs of approaching maturity in the young male are seen on 

 the rump and tail, which generally change to blue-grey, before 

 the grey head is assumed. 



In 1874 Mr C. Bygrave Wharton procured a female Kestrel 

 in Hertfordshire, which had a slaty-blue tail like the male, 

 with black bars, the rump being also slaty-blue. This speci- 

 men exemplifies further the fact that I have already noted, 

 that in very old females of the Birds of Prey there is a ten- 

 dency to assume a plumage like that of the males. 



Nestling — Covered with white down. 



Range in Great Britain. — The Kestrel is found in every county 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and nests in the wooded 

 districts, as well as in the cliffs of the sea-shore and inland 

 mountains. It is in some degree migratory, descending to 

 the lower ground from the highlands in winter. A certain 

 number also leave the country in the autumn, ^being found 

 on our southern coasts at that season of the year, while an 

 influx of Kestrels also takes place from Northern Europe to 

 our eastern coasts. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Kestrel is almost uni- 

 versally distributed throughout the Palaearctic Region, and 

 breeds up to the Arctic Circle. It is a summer migrant to 

 Central Europe, where only a few remain during the winter. 

 It is said to occur throughout Siberia, but in Eastern Siberia 

 and in Japan the Kestrels are larger and darker in colour, 

 and it is this dark race, C. japonicus. which occurs throughout 



