146 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



nestling close to each other. During the early morning hoars and 

 late in the evening, they are most often to be seen, as they are then 

 engaged in hunting for food, and being by no means shy, may be 

 approached without difficulty. Their flight, though lacking the dash 

 and swiftness of that of some other Falcons, is exceedingly graceful 

 and buoyant, and a flock of these birds busily engaged in hawking for 

 insects is a pretty sight and one well worth watching. 



This Falcon's common Italian name of Falco ciiccolo is probably 

 derived from its supposed resemblance on the wing to the Cuckoo. 



The species appears to be almost entirely insectivorous, but 

 according to some authorities, it also preys upon small birds occa- 

 sionally. No kind of insect, whether large or small, winged or wing- 

 less, seems to come amiss to it, and in Tunisia the bird must find a 

 plentiful supply of food in the locusts and coleoptera which abound 

 there. 



The cry of this species resembles somewhat that of the Kestrel, 

 but is perhaps even more shrill and piercing. 



FALCO TINNUNCULUS, Linnsus. 

 KE STEEL. 



Falco tinnunculus, Linn. Stjst. Nat. i, p. 127 (1766j ; Malherbe, 



Cat. Bais. d'Ois. de I'Alg. p. G (1846) ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1894, p. 96 ; 



Erlanger, J.f. 0. 1898, p. 467. 

 Cerchneis tinnuncula, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i, p. 425. 

 Tinnunculus alaudarius, Malherbe, Cat. Bais. d'Ois. de I'Ahj. p. 6 



(1846); Lochc, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 65 (1867). 

 Cerchneis tinnunculus, Eoenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 152 ; id. J. f. 0. 



1892, p. 340. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from North Tunisia. 



Forehead and superciliary stripes pale rufous ; crown and nape delicate 

 blue-grey, with narrow black shaft stripes ; cheeks and sides of the head 

 whitisb-gi-ey, with a dark grey moustachial stripe; back, scapulars and 

 upper wing-coverts bright rufous, spotted with triangular black markings ; 

 primaries blackish-brown, with the inner-webs barred with white ; under 

 surface of wing and axillaries white, spotted with triangukir and pear- 

 shaped brown markings ; lower part of back, rump and upper tail-coverts 

 clear blue-grey ; tail blue-grey, with a broad black subterminal band, and 

 white tips to the feathers; throat uniform pale fulvous; breast, abdomen 



