Mr, R. J8. Sharper's Catalogue of Accipitres. 459 



Kestrels in his collection, has a specimen obtained by him in 

 Gilgit, and proved by dissection to be an undoubted 

 female, in which the coloration and markings of the upper 

 tail-coverts are of the character last mentioned, and in 

 which the markings on the mantle approach remarkably to 

 those of the male bird, as they form spots rather than trans- 

 verse bars. The tone of coloration in this specimen leads me 

 to refer it to T. iiiterstincUis. 



The males of the darker races of the Common Kestrel, be- 

 sides having, like the females, a more richly and darkly 

 coloured plumage, exhibit a tendency (varying somewhat in 

 different individuals) to a more profuse distribution and larger 

 size of the dark spots on the mantle, and especially of those on 

 the lower scapulars and tertials ; but in estimating such dif- 

 ferences as exist in this respect it should be borne in mind that 

 in the typical T. alaudarius, as well as in the darker races, the 

 males, on first assuming the adult dress, are usually more 

 spotted on the parts just mentioned than is the case when they 

 become somewhat older. This spotting is especially profuse 

 in the male Kestrels of the Cape-Verd Islands, of Teneriffe, 

 and of Madeira. These all belong to a small dark-coloured 

 race; and I should include them all under the subspecific 

 name of "neglectus'^ proposed by Professor Schlegel"'^ for those 

 of the Cape-Verd group, with which the Tenerifife and 

 Madeira birds appear to me to be almost identical in plumage 

 and also closely allied as regards size. 



This small dark race does not appear to extend to the 

 Azores, the only specimen of a Kestrel which Mr. Godman 

 met with on that group of islands being a female from the* 

 island of St. Michael's in very worn and faded plumage, which 

 corresponds in size to ordinary European specimens, and is 

 probably referable to the typical T. alaudarius. This speci- 

 men, which is mentioned in Mr. Godman's ' Natural History 

 of the Azores," p. 21, is preserved in the British Museum, 

 where there is also a typical pale T. alaudarius, apparently a 

 female, procured in the Cape-Verd group, which it had, no 

 doubt, visited as a migratory wanderer. 



* Vide Museum des Pays-Bas, Revue (1873^, Accipitres, p. 43, 



