FALCONIDiE TINNUNCULUS 281 



Tinnunculus tiimunculoides, BucMey, Ibis, 1874, p. 361 [Limpopoj ; 



SJicUei/, Ibis, 1882, p. 239 [lushlangeeu R.] . 

 Cenchi'is tmnunculoides, Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 196 ; Oates, Mata- 



beleland, p. 299 (1881). 

 Tiiinunculus naumanni, Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 260 (Salisbury). 



Description. Adult male. — Head and neck, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, tail-feathers, and most of the wing-feathers bluish-grey; 

 most of the outer wing-coverts slightly edged with cinnamon ; 

 centre of the back, scapulars and some of the inner, median, and 

 lesser coverts rich cinnamon without spots ; primaries black, white 

 on the basal half of the inner web ; tail with a broad subterminal 

 band of black and a terminal tip of white ; below, a paler cinnamon 

 colour tban the back, with a few spots of brown on the lower breast 

 and flanks ; thighs pale tawny, under tail-coverts yellowish-white ; 

 under wing-coverts white. 



Iris dark brown ; bill light blue, yellowish at base, darker at tip ; 

 cere, orbits and feet yellow ; claws generally white. 



Length 13'0; wing 9-0 ; tail 5-25 ; culmen 075 ; tarsus 1-25. 



The female is very different from the male ; above rufous ; the 

 crown and nape streaked, the back and wings barred with black ; 

 primaries black notched with pale rufous on the inner web ; tail 

 rufous barred with black, the subterminal band much broader and 

 the tip white; cheeks and ear- coverts silvery- white with a few shaft 

 lines of black ; below, fulvous-white throughout ; the breast streaked, 

 the flanks spotted with black. 



Length 12-5 ; wing 9-30. 



The young male is like the adult female but somewhat paler 

 rufous, the blue tail is gained by a moult but the blue head by a 

 change of feathers. 



Distribution. — The Lesser Kestrel breeds throughout southern 

 Europe, north x^frica, and western and central Asia, extending as 

 far as China. In the northern winter it migrates southwards to 

 India, and east and south Africa. 



Within our limits, where it is only found during the southern 

 summer, it is most abundant in Ehodesia and the Transvaal, and 

 occurs but seldom in Cape Colony and Natal. 



The following are localities: Cape Colony — Swellendam, January 

 (Layard), King Williams Town (Trevelyan) ; Natal — Upper parts 

 (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Potchefstroom, October, December, 

 February and May (Ayres), Eustenburg district, November (Oates) ; 

 Bechuanaland — Boatlanama (Exton in S. A. Mus.) ; Rhodesia — 



