OWLS AND DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 379 
TINNUNCULUS ALAUDARIUS (Blanford, Vol. IIT., p. 428). 
CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULUS (Legge, p. 114). 
The Kestrel. 
Description.—Adult male : The head, the back and sides of 
the neck and a moustache-stripe bluish-ashy with dark shafts ; 
back, scapulars, and wing coverts brick-red, tinged with 
vinous, and scattered over with triangular black spots ; rump 
and upper tail coverts ashy-gray; tail ashy-gray above, 
whitish beneath, with a broad black band near the end and 
a narrow white tip; wing quills dark brown barred with 
whitish on the inner webs; cheeks and ear coverts whitish 
with darker streaks ; lower parts pale or buff with brown 
streaks on the breast, which pass into spots on the lower 
breast and flanks ; lower abdomen and tail coverts unspotted ; 
wing lining white with some large black spots. 
Female: Ground colour of upper plumage more brownish- 
rufous, with black streaks on the head and hind-neck, and 
with conspicuous black bands on the remainder of the upper 
parts and tail. The black band at the end of the tail is 
narrower than in the male. Wings and lower parts as in the 
male, but the latter are more heavily streaked and spotted. . 
Tn old females the rump, upper tail coverts, and tail are more 
or less tinged with blue-gray. 
Young males resemble females ; the tail turns blue-gray 
earlier than the head. 
Bill bluish-black ; cere and eyelids yellow ; iris brown ; legs 
orange-yellow ; claws black. 
Length about 14; wing 9°75; tail 6°75; tarsus 1:5; 
mid-toe without claw 1:10; bill from gape +85. Females, as 
a rule, are slightly larger. 
Distribution.—Found all over the Island during the north- 
east monsoon. Some birds appear to breed in the hills. The 
species occurs over the whole of Europe and Asia, breeding 
mainly in temperate climates and migrating southwards in 
winter, when it spreads over Northern Africa as well. 
Habits, &ce—The Kestrel mainly frequents open plains, 
cultivated tracts, dry paddy fields, &c., flying over the ground 
with rapid beats of its wings. Every now and then it hovers 
