292 M. Meuzbier on the Birds of Eurojjean 



there ten or fifteen years ago. It is not uncommon in the 

 country between the Oka and Volga, and is very common in 

 the Governments of Samara, Uta, and Orenburg. After 1875- 

 76 it became very rare in some portions of the last-mentioned 

 Government; for example between Orenburg and Orsk. It 

 is rare on the Lower Volga (Mr. Henke occasionally found 

 it breeding north of Astrakhan), and not uncommon in the 

 Government of Stavropol. On the authority of Mr. Severtzov 

 this bird bred commonly near the Biting river (in the Govern- 

 ment of Voronesh) from the year 1810 to 1850, but is very 

 rare there now. I saw it occasionally in the district of 

 Ladonsk (in the same Government) during the summer of 

 1880. From the year 1830 to 1850 this Falcon was very 

 common in the Government of Kharkov and in the steppes 

 of the Black Sea; but I found it rare in that country 

 during the summer of 1832, though it is still a common local 

 bird in the Government of Kiev. According to Messrs. 

 Shatilov and Badde this bird breeds rarely in the steppe of 

 Tamak, in the Crimea. 



On spring and autumn migration the Red-footed Falcon 

 is now exceedingly common in the central and southern 

 portions of Russia, and has, I think, migrated from the last- 

 mentioned countries more northwards only during the last 

 forty or fifty years. 



Cerchneis cenchris. 



The Lesser Kestrel breeds only in the steppes of Southern 

 Russia. According to Eversmann it is not rare in the steppes 

 of the southern branches of the Ural, and Mr. Severtzov has 

 furnished me wath some very interesting notes on the history 

 of that bird during the last twenty-five years in the Govern- 

 ment of Orenburg. On the authority of Mr. Severtzov, the 

 Lesser Kestrel was rare in the steppes near the Upper Ural 

 river in the year 1860, and at the same time the Red-footed 

 Falcon was very common there. Fourteen years after, in 

 1874, the bird became more common in the above-mentioned 

 country, though generally it was not very numerous, and in 

 that year the Red-footed Falcon was as common as before. 



