HAWKS AND HAWK-LIKE BIRDS. 



KESTREL.— Plate 71. Length, 14 inches. Head 

 and nape blue-gray ; upper back and wings ruddy- 

 fawn, with some black spots, but flight -feathers 

 dusky-gray ; lower back and tail blue-gray, latter 

 with broad black band across the end ; under parts 

 ruddy-fawn, clear on the throat, with thin, black, 

 longitudinal streaks on the breast, and black blotches 

 on the flanks ; under sides of wings white, with 

 black spots ; bill dark and hooked ; feet yellow. 

 Female: 15i inches; lacks the bluish head and tail 

 of the male, these parts, also the plumage of the 

 upper parts generally, being rufous, barred across 

 with darker bands ; tail with dark cross-bands, the 

 terminal one broadest. Resident. 



Eg"gs. — 4—6, bufly-white in the ground, but usually 

 so much mottled with reddish-brown as to leave 

 little or none of the ground visible; 1*6 ^ 1'25 inch 



(plate 128). 



Nest. — Often a flattened tuft of grass on a ledge 

 of a sea or inland cliff"; among marram grass on 

 sandhills ; in cavities in ruins, quarries, and hollow 

 trees ; not infrequently in an old nest of Crow or 

 Magpie. 



Distribution.— General. 



The Kestrel is the commonest and most often seen 

 of the Hawks. It is distributed generally throughout 



