FALCONING. 39 



The adult male has the forehead yellowish ; head, nape, and tail 

 fine ashy grey, the latter with a broad black band, and the former 

 sometimes tinged black ; mantle and wing coverts vinaceous, with 

 some black heart-shaped spots ; beneath creamy or rusty with spots 

 of brown, linear on the breast, oval on the abdomen, and heart- 

 shaped on the sides ; the under tail coverts are unspotted ; quills 

 brown, with white bands or spots on the Inner webs. 



Length of a female 15 inches; wing lOf; tail 7. A male 

 measures 13 to 14 Inches ; wing 10; tail 65. The wings do not 

 reach to the end of tail by 1^ to 1^ inches; the second quill is 

 the longest. 



The Kestril Is a cold weather visitant to India, one of our 

 earliest, indeed; and It does not leave till April. It is most abun- 

 dant, being found in every part of the country, and at all eleva- 

 tions. Its chief food is lizards, but it also eats rats and mice. 

 Insects, especially grasshoppers and locusts, and rarely young or 

 sickly birds. It constantly hovers over a spot where it has 

 observed something move, and when certain of its presence, drops 

 down on It with noiseless wing. Blyth mentions that parties of 

 twenty or thirty individuals may be seen together beating over the 

 cultivated lands in Lower Bengal. This I have never witnessed. 

 It does not breed in this country. Dr. Horsfield in his Catalogue, 

 apparently quoting from Mr. Blyth, says, — " It breeds in April in 

 lofty trees, and also on the top of minarets." I imagine he must 

 have been quoting from some other naturalist, not an observer In 

 India. In England it breeds on shelves of rocks, in ravines ; also 

 in old ruined buildings, churches, &c. 



It used to be trained occasionally in Europe to hunt larks, quails, 

 and other small birds, but It is scouted by the Indian Falconers as 

 an ignoble race. 



Gen. Erythropus, Brehm. 



Syn. Tinnunculus, pars. Gray, — Tichornis, pars, Kaup. 



Bill as in Falco, but small. Wings long, only the first quill emar- 

 ginate ; tail moderate, rounded ; tarsus with some larger scales in 

 front; outer toe scarcely longer than the inner one; claws subequal, 

 pale. Sexes, when adult, differ in colour. Size small. 



