KESTREL 479 
ing, however, scarce in southern latitudes, and unknown beyond 
Fantee on the west and Mombasa on the east coast (/dis, 1881, p. 
457). The southern countries of Europe have also another and 
smaller species of Kestrel, 7. tinnunculoides (the T. cenchris and T. 
naumanm of some writers), which is widely spread in Africa and 
Asia, while examples from India and China are distinguished as 
T. pekinensis. 
Three! other species are found in Africa as well—Z. rupicola, 
T. rupicoloides, and T. alopex—the first of which is a common bird 
in the Cape Colony, while the others occur in the interior. Some 
of the islands of the Ethiopian Region have peculiar species of 
Kestrel, as the 7. newtont of Madagascar, T. punctatus of Mauritius, 
and 7. gracilis of the Seychelles ; while, on the opposite side of the 
continent, the Kestrel of the Cape Verd Islands has been separated 
as 7’. neglectus, and that of the Canaries indulged with subsidiary 
recognition (Kénig, Journ. fiir Orn. 1890, p. 285, pl. i.) as Cerchneis 
tinnunculus canariensis. 
The next species deserving of notice is that of America, 7. 
sparverius, commonly known in Canada and the United States as 
the “Sparrow-Hawk ”—a beautiful little bird, though not more 
courageous than the rest of its relations. Various attempts have 
been made to recognize several species, more or less in accordance 
with locality, but the majority of ornithologists seem unable to 
accept the distinctions elaborated, chiefly by Dr. Sharpe (wt supra) 
and Mr. Ridgway (NV.-Am. Birds, iii. pp. 159-175), the former of 
whom in 1874 recognized six species, while the latter, in the same 
year, and since, has admitted but three, 7. sparverius, T. leucophrys, 
and 1’. sparverioides, with five geographical races of the first, viz. the 
typical 7. sparverius from the continent of North America, except 
the coast of the Gulf of Mexico; 7. australis from the continent of 
South America, except the North Atlantic and Caribbean coasts ; 
T. isabellinus, inhabiting continental America from Florida to 
Cayenne ; 7. dominicensis from the Lesser Antilles as far north- 
wards as St. Thomas; and lastly 7. cinnamominus from Chili and 
western Brazil. 7. leucophrys is said to be from Hispaniola and 
Cuba; and 7. sparverioides peculiar to Cuba only. ‘This last has 
been generally allowed to be a good species, though Dr. Gundlach, 
the best. authority on the birds of that island, in his latest work, 
published in 1876 (Contribucion d& la Ornitologia Cubana, p. 48) 
would not allow its validity. More recently it was found (Ibis, 
1881, pp. 547-564) that 7. australis and T. cinnamominus cannot 
be separated, that Mr. Ridgway’s 7. lewophrys should properly be 
called 7. dominicensis, and his 7. dominicensis T. antillarum, while 
that gentleman has recorded the supposed occurrence of 7. spar- 
1 Mr. Gurney’s 7. arthuri (op. cit. pp. 98 and 156) rests on a single specimen, 
and therefore requires confirmation. 
