208 FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 



the male was actually larger than the female. While 

 writing this account, I hav^e before me, along with 

 five others, a fresh male, fourteen inches and a half 

 long, and twenty-eight inches in alar extent ; and the 

 greatest length of any female that I have seen did 

 not exceed fifteen inches. In this respect, the kes- 

 trel is best contrasted with the peregrine falcon and 

 the sparrow hawk, between the males and the females 

 of which there is an extraordinary difference. The 

 American Sparrow Hawk, Falco Sparverius, is very 

 nearly allied to the Kestrel, as is the Falco tinnuncu- 

 loides of the south of Europe. Whatever may be the 

 habits of the latter, those of the former, according to 

 Mr Audubon, are similar to the habits of our species, 

 in so far as regards the hovering, so much talked of as 

 a singular phenomenon. This mode of assuming a fixed 

 station in the air for observation, is, however, observed 

 in the hen-harrier, the sparrow hawk, and the buz- 

 zard. Even the osprey, one of the largest of our birds 

 of prey employs it, so that all theories formed on this 

 circumstance, and tending to separate the Kestrel from 

 other falcons, ought to be remitted to their authors for 

 revision. 



In the series of British falcons, the Kestrel and the 

 Merlin are the species most nearly allied. The young 

 of the latter bear a considerable resemblance in colour, 

 as well as in form, to the young and the female of the 

 former. In fact Buffon has figured a female kestrel as 

 a merlin, although he talks as if he were very familiar 

 with both species. It has been remarked that this bird 

 is more crepuscular than our other hawks ; but I have 

 not observed this to be the case, and indeed an intelli- 



