Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue o/Accipitres. 461 



so richly and darkly coloured that it must^ I think^ be con- 

 sidered an example of T. interstinctus . This sjiecimen is 

 the more interesting^ as Captain Legge, in his article on 

 7^. alaudarius, to Avhich I have already referred, states that he 

 only met with the pale race in that island. It ought^ however, 

 to be mentioned that Mr, Samuel Bligh, by whom this speci- 

 men was presented to the Norwich Museum, kept it in con- 

 finement for four years ; and it is possible that its plumage, 

 being thus preserved from the action of sun and weather, 

 presents, from that cause, a darker and richer aspect than it 

 would have done had the bird been exposed to both in a state 

 of nature*. 



I have examined adult, or nearly adult, males which I con- 

 sider to belong to T. interstinctus, from Baltistan, in Kashmir 

 (10,500 feet above the level of the sea), from Bootan, from 

 the Himalayas, and from Travancore, also from the following 

 localities in China, viz. Pekin, Shanghae, and Amoy; and I 

 may add that the Norwich Museum possesses a very dark 

 newly-fledged nestling, which was obtained by Mr. Swinhoe 

 at Amoy on 13th June ; but as it is very young and in female 

 plumage, I am unable to say whether it ought to be referred 

 to T. interstinctus or to T. japonicus. 



In the adult males of T. japonicus the dark spots on the 

 mantle, and especially those on the scapulars, are not only 

 larger than in T. alaudarius and in T. interstinctus, but are 

 usually, though not invariably, of a more guttate shape, this 

 appearance, which in some individuals is very conspicuous, 

 being caused by the feathers having broad, dark shaft-marks 



* Since the above was written, I liave received from Mr. Bligh the fol- 

 lowing reply to an inquiry I addressed to him respecting this specimen : — 

 " The bird was pinioned by a shot, between October and xlpril, in the cool 

 season. It was adult when procm'ed, and decidedly dark then j but it 

 grew darker at the first moult, being the darkest I ever saw, which 

 induced me to preserve its skin. In confinement it movdted regularly and 

 completely, and died suddenly from a fright accidentally caused by my- 

 self, the heart being then a mass of fat. It was fed almost exclusively on 

 its natural food, lizards, beetles, and grasshoppers. It was restless at 

 migratory seasons. I never knew any Kestrel, of any species or race, 

 breed or remain all the vear in Cevlon.'' 



