BRYTHROPUS. 



425 



Tinnunculus amurensis, Oates, B. B. ii, p. 219. 

 Cerclineis vespertina, Hmne, Cat. no. 19 : Barnes, Birds Bom. 

 p. 20. 



Red-legged Falcon, Jerdon. 



Coloration. Adult male. Upper parts and tail dark slaty grey, 

 blackish on the head, nape, back, and scapulars, quills washed 

 outside with silvery grey ; cheeks sooty black, ear-coverts paler ; 

 lower surface from chin to abdomen ashy grey ; lower abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts deep ferruginous red ; wdng-lining and 

 axillaries pure white, lower surface of quiUs black throughout. 



Adult female. Above slaty grey, brownish on the head, nape, 

 and upper back, paler on the rump and tail : feathers of the head 

 and nape dark-shafted, all others barred with black bands, especially 

 on the rump and tail, subterminal band on tail broader; a cheek- 

 stripe, feathers below the eye, and a band running back from it 

 black ; primaries blackish, with oval white spots forming bars on 

 inner webs, except near the tips ; lower parts to the abdomen 

 including the ear-coverts creamy white or pale rufous ; breast with 

 elongate black spots that pass into arrov/-head or heart-shaped 

 markings and bars on the flanks and upper abdomen ; lower abdomen 

 and lower tail-coverts rufous, not spotted ; wing-lining white with 

 brown spots ; axillaries barred white and dark bi'own. 



Young birds are like the female, but the head is much bi'owner, 

 and the feathers of the mantle have broad rufous borders ; there is 

 also an imperfect buff nuchal coUar. 



Bill fleshy red with a dusky tip, cere deep orange-red, orbital 

 skin orange-yellow; legs deep orange-red, claws flesh-coloured 

 {Jerdon) ; irides hazel (Gurnet/). 



Length of a male 11 "5 ; tail 5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-1 ; mid-toe 1 ; 

 bill from gape -75. Females are a little larger on an average. 



Distnhution. A migratory bird, breeding in North China in 

 summer and wintering partly in India and Burma, but principally 

 in Eastern Africa. This Falcon has been chiefly observed, in India, 

 in Kumaun, Sikhim, Bengal, and Cachar, towards the latter part of 

 the monsoon, when it is migrating southward; only occasional occur- 

 rences have been recorded in Pegu, the Western Himalayas, the 

 Deccan, the Nilgiris, the Carnatic, and Ceylon. 



E. vespertinus, the European Eed-legged Falcon, to which the 

 first few specimens of E. amurensis found in India were referred, 

 is easily distinguished, the male by having a dark grey wing-lining 

 instead of a white one, the female by its rufous head and immacu- 

 late breast, and the young birds by having the crown rufous 

 instead of brown. So far as is known the true E. vespertinus has 

 not been found in India. 



Habits, Sfc. The present species is highly gregarious and mainly 

 insectivorous. It migrates in large flocks, which roost together 

 at night. It breeds in China in magpies' nests. 



