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it off to its nest, whence it was recovered by the fellow letting 
himself down by a rope. I was witness to the whole 
transaction. At Nynee Tal, two pairs breed early—one on 
the western precipices, the other on the south-eastern, not far 
from where I live.” 
Mr. Brookes writes to me that “the Kestrel is tolerably 
common in Kumaon. I saw a young bird taken from a nest 
near Almorah. The colours of the adult male do not appear 
to be so pure as those of the English bird. The grey of the 
head is darker, I think, and the chestnut of the back more 
dingy.” 
Dr. Jerdon tells me that “he has seen this bird breeding 
everywhere in the interior of the Himalayas, at heights of 
from 8000 to 10,000 feet, in May, June and July.” (?) 
Out of India Mr. Swinhoe remarks that this bird is “ resident 
all the year at Amoy, and several pairs build on the Amoy 
rocks.” 
In Palestine (vide Ibis, 1865) Mr. Tristram writes—“ The 
Kestrel is excessively common in every part of the country 
throughout the year, up to the confines of the southern desert. 
In the Ghor and in the eastern forests, among the.ruins of 
Amman and Gerash, in the desolate gorges of the Dead Sea, 
among the luxuriant gardens of the coast, and in the sacred 
recesses of the mosques of Omar and Hebron, it equally abounds. 
It is generally gregarious, ten or twenty pairs breeding in the 
same ruins, and rearing their young about the end of March. 
It often buildsits nest in the recesses of the caves which are 
occupied by the Griffons, and is the only bird which the Hagles 
appear to permit to live in close proximity to them. At 
Amman, too, it builds in the ruins im company with the 
Jackdaws; and in several places, as at Lydda and Nazareth, 
large colonies are mixed indiscriminately with those of the 
lesser Kestrel. The number of nests we came across without 
searching for them, was enormous.” 
It is found throughout Hurope, in Siberia, in northern and 
possibly central Africa, but, in the south of that continent, 
seems to be replaced by the brighter coloured T. Rupicolus. 
As regards its nidification in England, Mr. Yarrell says, “ In 
spring the Kestrel frequently takes possession of the nest of a 
Crow or a Magpie, in which to deposit its eggs. Sometimes 
these birds build in high rocks, or on old towers, and among the 
ruins of buildings, laying four and occasionally five eggs, about 
one inch seven lines long, by one inch three lines across, 
mottled all over with dark reddish brown, and sometimes with 
blotches of reddish brown upon a pale reddish white ground. 
