KESTREL. 207 



birds, the feathers transversely marked with broad dark 

 brown bands, of wliich the extreme one is somewhat 

 triangular. Tlie primary quills and their coverts are 

 dark brown, most of the former tipj)ed with light red, 

 all spotted with the same on their inner web, and the 

 latter spotted more or less on both webs. On the tail 

 are eight bars of dark brown, the last three-fourths of 

 an inch broad, the tip dull reddish-white. The lower 

 parts are pale yellowish-red, the sides of the neck and 

 the breast marked with longitudinal streaks of dark- 

 brown, as are the sides, but the dark markings on the 

 latter have transverse processes. The tibial, abdomi- 

 nal, and lower tail-feathers are light reddish-yellow, 

 some of the former with a central dusky line. 



Progress toward maturity The male at the 



first moult shews the bluish-grey of the head, rump and 

 tail ; but the head is still tinged with red, and the tail 

 is barred on both webs. As it advances in age, the 

 tints become purer, the dark markings smaller and 

 more attenuated ; those on the outer webs of the tail 

 disappear first, while on the inner webs they remain 

 for two years. The changes which the female under- 

 goes are less remarkable, but of a similar nature, al- 

 though the parts which are ultimately greyish-blue in 

 the male are merely tinged with that colour in the fe- 

 male, and the tail always remains barred. 



Remarks, — Of all our falcons, excepting the merlin, 

 this species seems to me to present less difference be- 

 tween the sexes as to size ; and I have seen a pair 



with three young ones, all of the same family, of which 



2 



