FALCONINE. 19 
grey, the latter with a broad black band, and the former some- 
times tinged black; mantle and wing-coverts vinaceous, with 
some heart-shaped black spots; beneath creamy or rusty with 
spots of brown, linear on the breast, oval on the abdomen, and 
heart-shaped on the sides; the under tail-coverts are unspotted ; 
quills brown, with white bands or spots on the inner webs. 
Female (and young male): above of a ruddy vinaceous color, 
with long dark stripes on the head and neck, broadish bars on 
the back and wing-coverts ; tail with numerous dark bands, and 
a broader one at the end, white-tipped; cheek-stripe dark, of 
small extent; ears hoary; plumage beneath reddish-ochraceus, 
with numerous and close brown spots. 
To the above description, which is Dr. Jerdon’s, must be added, 
that the tail is tipped with white, and that the centre tail- 
feathers have at times linear black spots on their inner webs; 
the quills are also often narrowly edged and tipped with white. 
The young male is not exactly like the female; it is always 
more rufous. 
The Kestril is common throughout the country, but only as a 
winter visitant. It arrives in September and does not take its 
departure until April. It does not breed anywhere within our 
limits; but. is known to do so on the Himalayan, Suleiman, and 
Neilgherry ranges. I obtained a good series of eggs on the Khoja 
Amran Hills, between Quetta and Kandahar. 
Cerchneis naumanni, Leish. 
18.—rythropus cenchris, Maum.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. 
I, p. 40 ; Butler, Deccan and South Mahratta country ; Stray 
Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 871 ; Hume’s Scrap Book, p. 103. 
THE LEssER KESTRIL. 
Total length, 12°5 inches; culmen, 0°75; wing, 9°5; tail, 6; 
tarsus, 1-2. ; 
Bill lightish-blue, yellow at base, and blackish at tip; cere, 
orbits, and feet*beautiful yellow ; the claws generally white, very 
rarely inclining to blackish ; iris dark brown. 
- Adult male: upper surface of body rich cinnamon-rufous ; 
entire head and hind-neck, lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, 
and tail blue-grey, the latter tipped with white, and crossed by a 
broad subterminal band of black ; lores and a few streaks on the 
cheeks whitish ; lesser and medium wing-coverts cinnamon-rufous, 
like the back, a few of the outer ones of the latter series washed 
with blue-grey ; the greater-coverts and inner secondaries blue-grey 
washed with rufous externally; primaries dark brown; throat 
deep fulvous-white ; breast pale cinnamon or vinous, with a few 
blackish .spots on the breast, becoming larger on the sides of 
the body; thighs paler rufous, unspotted ; abdomen and under 
tail-coverts yellowish-white ; under wing-coverts white, with a 
few tiny black oval spots, larger on the axillaries. - 
