CERCHNEIS. 



71 



The adult female is similar to the male, but larger; length 13 

 inches, wing 9, tail 6*5, tarsus 1*5 to 1*55. 



Hah. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Bengal, Nepaul, Kutch, 

 Kattiawar, Jodhpore, N. Guzerat, and. throughout the Indian Penin- 

 sula; also Beloochistan, Persia and Afghanistan. 



Affects open country in the vicinity of cultivation. It is said to 

 be easily reclaimed and flown at partridges and quails, which it pursues 

 very perseveringly. Like the European sparrow-hawk, it is a very 

 courageous bird, and the propensity of attacking larger birds of prey 

 than itself seems to be more developed. Jerdon says it even drives 

 away the WohUab {Aquila fulvescens) from the vicinity of its nest or 

 perch. 



Cerchneis tinnuncula, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 314; Sharjoe, Cat. Ace. 

 B. M. p. 425. Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gray, Gen. Bird, i. p. 21; Jenl. 

 B. hid. i. p. 38, No. 17; Blyth, Ibis, 1863; ilitme. Bough Notes, p. 96; 

 Murray, Hdbk., Zool., Sfc, Bind, p. 108. {Narzi, the female; Narzanah, 

 the male, Hind.) — The Kestrel. 



AdaU Male. — Forehead buffy white ; crown of the head, nape, neck 

 behind and on the sides, blue grey, the feathers with narrow dark 

 shaft-stripes. Eyebrow buffy white ; sides of the face, except a dark 

 moustachial stripe, silvery white ; chin and throat, also the under tail- 

 coverts, unspotted buff. Upper back, scapulars, tertiaries and 

 wing-coverts, brick-red or vinaceous, the feathers with a subterminal 

 heart-shaped black spot, larger on the tertiaries. Primaries and their 

 coverts, and secondaries dark brown, the primary coverts margined 

 with rufous, outer secondaries narrowly edged and tipped with fulvous 

 or buffy white, and the primaries barred on their inner webs with white ; 

 the inner primaries with bars of a rufescent hue. Lower back, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts and tail blue grey, the tail with a broad subterminal 

 black baud and tipped with white ; breast, abdomen, and flanks, 

 rufous fawn, the feathers on the breast and flanks with mesial dark 

 streaks, which take an oval shape lower down. Thigh-coverts unspotted 

 rufous fawn. Under wing-coverts white, with a buffy tinge, and spotted 

 black. Bill bluish-horn, black at the tip and yellowish at the base. 

 Cere, orbits and legs yellow. Irides brown. 



Length. — 12-5 to 13 inches, wing 9-5 to 10, tail 6-5 to 6-7, culmcn 

 1"75, tarsus P6. 



The adult female is less rufous in colour above, and with the subter- 

 minal spots wider and forming bands. Head rufous with longitudinal 

 streaks. Tail rufous, banded with dark brown, tipped with white and 

 with a subterminal black band as in the male. 



Hab.— The whole of Europe and North Asia; the Indian Peninsula 

 as a winter visitant ; N. E. and South Africa, Sind, Punjab, N. W. 

 Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, Kattiawar, and along the Western 

 Coast ; Central and Southern India to Nepaul ; also Beloochistan, 

 Persia, Afghanistan, and Eastern Turkistau. 



A very useful bird to cultivators, preying only, as it docs, chiefly on 

 field-mice, which are its favourite diet. 



