FALCONID.B. 



345 



THE LESSER KESTREL. 

 Falco cenchris, Naumann. 



The claim of this small species to a place in the British list rests 

 upon two occurrences. An example, now in the York Museum, 

 was shot in the middle of November 1867 by Mr. John Harrison 

 of Wilstrop Hall, who noticed the bird flying about his farm ; and 

 in May 1877 an adult male, with one leg injured, was captured 

 alive near Dover, and presented by Mr. E. P. Robinson to the 

 Museum of that town, where I have examined it. 



It will not appear so remarkable that the Lesser Kestrel should 

 occasionally visit England, when wc consider that it is a regular 

 migrant to Europe, and has been obtained in May on Heligoland ; 

 while it has twice occurred as far north as Anhalt, in (iermany. It 

 is, however, a southern species, and the northern limit of its breeding- 

 range appears to be in Styria, where it arrives early in April, depart- 

 ing in August. To Savoy, and even to the south of France, it is 

 only an occasional visitor, and statements respecting its breeding on 

 this side of the Pyrenees require confirmation ; nor is it common on 

 the mainland of Italy, though abundant, and partially resident, in 

 Sicily and some other islands of the Mediterranean. In the Spanish 



