FALCON IDAE I 75 



brown, and chestnut thighs. H. orientalis of tlie same countries 

 lacks the red tints, H. novae guineae of Xew Guinea is less 

 spotted. These three Kestrel-like birds love swampy districts, 

 and devour small mammals, birds, frogs, lizards, newts, insects, 

 and even carrion ; being valuable allies in caterpillar-plagues, but 

 farmyard pests at ordinary times. The nest of sticks, lined with 

 bark or leaves, is placed in trees, the three or four whitish eggs 

 are blotched with reddish-brown. 



The nearly cosmopolitan genus Tinmincvlvs (Kestrel), so 

 called from its querulous "bell -like" note, is separated from 

 Falco rather by pattern of colour than structural considerations. 

 2\ alaudari'us, the most plentiful of the British Falconidae — 

 which is occasionally seen in winter near its breeding-quarters, 

 tliough chieHy a summer immigrant — ranges from the Atlantic 

 Islands and lat. 68° N. in Europe, through Asia to Japan and 

 China, reachino- Fantee and Mombasa in Africa, and havino- been 

 once recorded from Massachusetts in America. The sub-species 

 ncglectus, jcvponicus, and saturatus are darker than the type ; 

 wherein the male is chiefly bluish-grey above, and buff with black 

 spots and streaks below ; the chestnut back being spotted with 

 black, and the wliite-tipped tail having a broad subterminal black 

 band. The female has rufous upper parts, with dark bars continued 

 down the tail. The Kestrel or Wind-hover is a shy arboreal bird 

 of somewhat crepuscular tendencies, generally observed circling 

 gracefully aloft in readiness to drop upon its prey, or " hovering '' 

 with rapid vibrations of the long wings, the tail expanded and 

 the head to windward. Small mammals and coleoptera furnish 

 most of the food, a few birds — very seldom game — lizards, frogs, 

 worms, grasshoppers, and insect-larvae varying the diet. Its 

 great utility is now generally recognised, while sensible keepers 

 should be fast learning that all Hawks and Owls are not 

 '• vermin." It rarely builds its own nest, but occupies deserted 

 habitations of Crows, Pies, and other birds, relined sparingly 

 with twigs and grass, or scrapes a cup in the soil of some ledge 

 or cavity of a cliff. At times hollow trees, ruins, and chalk-pits 

 are chosen, or even level ground in the fens — pellets of bones, 

 feathers, fur, and beetles' elytra connnonly marking the spot. The 

 four to six eggs are creamy- white, blotched or tliickly mottled 

 with liright or dull red. T. cencliris, the Lesser Kestrel, ^vith white 

 claws, and unspotted back in the male, has four or five times 



