346 LESSER KESTREL. 



Peninsula it is very numerous, especially in Andalucia, where a few 

 remain through the winter, though the majority arrive in February 

 and leave in October. In Greece and the south-east of Europe 

 it is common in summer, and since 1877 thousands have annually 

 invaded the Orenburg district, where, either as a consequence or 

 a coincidence, the Red-footed Falcon has become rare. East- 

 ward it is found as far as Bokhara, and a nearly allied species, 

 F. pekinensis, breeds in China and winters in India. Asia Minor, 

 Palestine, Egypt and North Africa are regularly visited by the Lesser 

 Kestrel in summer, while its migrations in the cold season extend 

 to Cape Colony. 



No nest is built, but the eggs are deposited in holes in cliffs, walls 

 or roofs of inhabited buildings as well as ruined towers, churches 

 &c., and sometimes in trees. Dr. Kriiper found a complete clutch 

 by the end of April in Greece, but my experience is that the middle 

 of May is the usual time for laying. The complement is 4-5, 

 exceptionally 7 ; the colour yellowish-white, mottled with reddish- 

 brown, much paler than in eggs of the Common Kestrel : average 

 measurements i"4 by I'l in. The food consists of insects, especially 

 cockchafers and other beetles, and grasshoppers ; the stairs and other 

 approaches to the towers frequented by this and the larger species 

 being often covered with an accumulation of wing-cases and ejected 

 pellets of indigestible matter ; small lizards are also eaten. The cry 

 has been syllabled as vev-a'i, and also ^s psche, psc/i, psche, wsche. 



The Lesser Kestrel much resembles our common species, but is 

 smaller in size and has white claivs. The male has no black spots 

 on the back, and the innermost secondaries are slate-grey instead 

 of chestnut. Length 12 in. ; wing 9 in. The female can only be 

 distinguished from the Kestrel by her smaller size and her white 

 claws ; length 13 in. ; wing 9^3 in. 



From the walls of the cathedral of Seville, I took an unusually 

 large hen bird off a clutch of much incubated eggs of the Common 

 Kestrel, and, rashly assumin* that she was necessarily their rightful 

 owner, I hinted — in print — that the two species might possibly 

 interbreed. This was nearly twenty years ago, and I have regretted 

 it ever since, for there is no evidence that such is the case. 



