196 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Time. April, May, and June. 



Remarks. Resident. Note : a harsh, rapidly 

 delivered kind of chatter, sounding like rake, rake. 

 Local and other names : Jay Piet, Jaypie. Not a very 

 close sitter. 



KESTREL. 



(Falco tinnunculus.) 

 Order ACCIPITRES ; Family FALCONID^: (FALCONS). 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 thirteen inches. Bill short, much curved, and lead- 

 coloured. Bare skin round the base of the beak, 

 yellow. Irides dark brown. Head and nape of 

 the neck ash-grey, under the eye is a dusky streak. 

 Back, scapulars, and wing-coverts brownish-fawn 

 colour, spotted with black ; wing-quills black, edged 

 with grey ; tail-feathers ash-grey, with a broad 

 black bar near the end, which is tipped with white ; 

 under-parts light rust colour, spotted and streaked 

 with black ; thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts 

 unspotted. Legs and toes yellow ; claws black. 



The female is about two inches longer. Her 

 head and tail are reddish-brown, also the back, 

 which is duller than that of the male. On the 

 head are some dark streaks, and the back is barred 

 with bluish-black. The tail is very evenly and 

 prettily barred with black from the base to very 

 near the end, where the bars become broader. 

 Under-parts are fainter than in the case of the 

 male. 



Situation and Locality. On ledges and in crevices 

 of sea cliffs and inland crags and precipices ; holes 

 in trees, towers, old ruins, church steeples, and 

 even dove-cotes have been utilised ; also in deserted 



