Russia north of the Caucasus. 293 



Three years after, in 1877, the Red-footed Falcon became 

 very rare in some parts of the steppes of Orenburg, and the 

 Lesser Kestrel became exceedingly common; thousands of 

 the latter species were found by Mr. Scvertzov upon the 

 telegraph-wires on the wayside between Orenburg and Orsk. 

 There is no doubt that some connexion exists between the 

 numbers of these species ; but we do not know whether the 

 Lesser Kestrel has become more common since the migra- 

 tion of the Red-footed Falcon into the steppes of Orenburg, 

 or if the latter has become rarer since the migration of the 

 Lesser Kestrel into that country. 



Near the Middle Ural river and the Lower Volga the Lesser 

 Kestrel is not common ; but it breeds throughout the whole 

 country as far south as the delta of the Volga. At the end 

 of August (old style) 1881, during my journey with Mr. Se- 

 vertzov in the Khrenovskaja steppe (in the Government of 

 Voronesh), there was obtained a young Lesser Kestrel (c^), 

 the first specimen of that bird shot there during nearly forty 

 years. But more to the south, in the steppes of the Govern- 

 ment of Stavropol and near the northern slopes of the 

 Caucasus, the bird is said to be very common. More to the 

 west the Lesser Kestrel breeds in the steppes of New Russia 

 and Bessarabia, in the Governments of Kiev, Podolsk, and 

 Volhynia, and is still to be found in the south-eastern portions 

 of Poland. According to Mr. Taczanovsky it is not an un- 

 common local bird in the Government of Lublin and near 

 Radom ; but is not found as far northwards as the latitude of 

 Warsaw. It breeds in the Crimea, and a few stay there 

 through the whole year. 



TiNNUNCULUS ALAUDARIUS. 



The Kestrel is distributed throughout the greater part of 

 Russia; but it is very common only in the middle and 

 southern portions of that country. 



In Finland this bird is found as far north as lat. 68°, but 

 near its northern limit it is very rare ; it is more common 

 near the Gulf of Bothnia, and very common in the southern 

 part of Finland. About Sego Lake, Lake Onega, and from 



