THE KESTRELS. 205 



Cerchneis naumanni, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 435 (1874). 

 l^iiinunailus ceiichris, B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 104 (1883). 



Adult Male. — General colour above rich cinnamon-rufous, 

 the entire head and hind-neck, lower back, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail blue-grey, the latter tipped with white, and 

 crossed with a broad sub-terminal bar of black ; lores and a few 

 streaks on the cheeks whitish; lesser and median wing-coverts 

 cinnamon-rufous, like the back, a few of the outer median 

 wing-coverts washed with blue-grey ; greater coverts and inner 

 secondaries blue-grey, washed with rufous externally, the 

 primaries being dark brown ; throat deep buffy-white ; breast 

 pale cinnamon or vinous, with a few blackish spots, becoming 

 larger on the sides of the body; thighs paler rufous, unspotted; 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts yellowish-white ; under wing- 

 coverts white, with a few tiny oval spots of black, larger on the 

 axillaries ; bill light blue, yellow at base and blackish at the 

 tip ; cere, orbits, and feet beautiful yellow ; iris dark brown. 

 Total length, 12-5 inches; culmen, 075 ; wing, 9-1 ; tail, 6*0; 

 tarsus, 1-2. 



Adult Female. — Different from the male. Above tawny-rufous, 

 transversely barred with blackish-brown, the bars narrower and 

 more obscure on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 the latter being washed with grey ; tail rufous, barred with 

 black, tipped with whitish, with a broad sub-terminal band of 

 black ; head and neck rather paler rufous, the former broadly, 

 the latter more narrowly, streaked with blackish shaft-lines; 

 primaries dark brown, barred on the inner web with rufous, the 

 secondaries coloured like the back, the outer ones narrowly 

 margined with white at the tip ; throat, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts buffy-white, without spots ; breast inclining to rufous 

 fawn-colour, all the feathers mesially streaked with blackish, 

 these stripes being broader on the flanks, and very tiny on the 

 thighs, which are also paler rufous. Total length, 12 "5 inches; 

 culmen, 07 ; wing, 9*3; tail, 5-9 ; tarsus, \'2. 



Young Birds. — At fust resemble the old female, but are paler 

 and not so strongly marked. The male, in his second season, 

 assumes the blue tail by a moult, but the blue head is assumed 

 apparently by a change of feather, as I believe is the case with 

 the Common Kestrel also. 



