INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS OF VICTORIA, 185 



KESTREL 



(Sparrow-hawk), 



Cerchneis ceiichroides, Vig. and Ilors. 



ISerh neis seng-kroi'-des. 

 Kerchne, the kestrel ; kenchrof, small grain ; eidos, form. 



Ti.VNUNCULUs CENCHROiDES, (xould, "Birds of Australia," fol., vol, 



1., pi. 13. 

 Geographical Distribution.— Areas 1 to 9, excepting, possibly, 



1 and 2. 

 Key to the Species. — General appearance rufous ; head streaked 



with black ; tail barred with black and tipped with white. 



Total length, 11*5 inches; culmen, 0'75 inch; wing, 9 25 



inches ; tarsus, 1 "5 inches. 



The Kestrel is not the true Sparrow-hawk (Accipiter 

 ciri-hocephalus), and the point is worth emphasizing, because 

 the former is insectivorous, while the latter is strictly a 

 bird of prey. To science, 15 species of kestrels are known, 

 of which one is disseminated throughout Australia, 

 excepting, possibly, the most northerly parts of the 

 continent. Why it should be found in Derby on the west 

 and Rockingham Bay in the east, and no further north, 

 I can only surmise. Some falcons go into our lowest 

 latitudes. These two genera are anatomically closely 

 connected, and Professor Alfred Newton suggests the 

 possibility that both are descendants from the Sparrow- 

 hawk of New Zealand, a bird of much higher courage than 

 any kestrel. Both sexes take part in incubation, the male 

 sitting in a hollow of another tree during the night but 

 relieving its male in the task of incubation during the day, 

 The eggs in my collection were taken from the deserted 

 nest of the White-winged Chough. The young, which are 

 three or four in number, when ready to fly are without the 

 yellow cere. 



