CERCHNEIS. 77 



Length. 18 to 18-5 inches; wing 12-5 to 13* 2; tail 7-3 to 7-5 ; culmcn P2; 

 tarsus 2. Female, 20 to 24 inches; wing 14 to 15-8; culmen 1-3; tail 9-8; 

 tarsus 2-1. 



Hab. The whole continent of India from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas 

 (Bengal, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Kutch), affecting open plains. 

 Outside of India it is found in Asia Minor, Egypt, Nepaul and Yarkand. 



It is not common in Sind, and occurs during winter only, arriving at the 

 same time as F. peregrinus, but of its departure nothing is on record. All 

 specimens obtained in Sind are in the young or immature phase, with the 

 upper parts brown, the head a yellowish white colour, and the body beneath 

 brown. Nothing is known of the breeding of the Cherrug within Indian 

 limits. In " Rough Notes" Mr. Hume says the Ameer of Kabool mentioned 

 that the birds he had, bred in Afghanistan. Eggs are said to be 4 in number, 

 of a slightly elongated oval form, and varying in color and markings from a 

 light red to dirty reddish white with spots and blotches of brighter red. The 

 Cherrug is trained to strike at Cranes, Bustards and other large game. 



Hab. The whole of Europe and North Asia ; the Indian Peninsula as a 

 winter visitant ; N. E. and South Africa, Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, 

 Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, Kattiawar, and along the Western Coast ; Central and 

 Southern India to Nepaul ; also Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, and Eastern 

 Turkestan. 



A very useful bird to cultivators, preying only, as it does, chiefly on field- 

 mice, which are its favourite diet. 



74. CerchneiS tinnunCUla, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 314 ; Sharpe, Cat. 

 Ace. B. M. p. 425. Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gray, Gen. Bird, i. p. 21 ; 

 Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 38, No. 17; Blyth, Ibis, 1863; Hume, Rough Notes, 

 p. 96; Murray* Hdbk., Zool., fyc., Sind, p. 108. (Narzi, the female; 

 Narzanak, the male, Hind.) The KESTREL. 



Adult Male. Forehead buffy white ; crown of the head, nape, neck behind 

 and on the sides, blue grey, the feathers with narrow dark shaft-stripes. 

 Eyebrow buffy white ; sides of the face, except a dark moustachial stripe, 

 silvery white ; chin and throat, also the under tail coverts, unspotted buff. 

 Upper back, scapulars, tertiaries and wing coverts, brick-red or vinaceous, the 

 feathers with a subterminal heart-shaped black spot, larger on the tertiaries. 

 Primaries and their coverts, and secondaries dark brown, the primary coverts 

 margined with rufous ; outer secondaries narrowly edged and tipped with 

 fulvous or buffy white, and the primaries barred on their inner webs with 

 white ; the inner primaries with bars of a rufescent hue. Lower back, rump, 

 upper tail coverts and tail blue grey, the tail with a broad subterminal black 

 band and tipped with white ; breast, abdomen and flanks, rufous fawn, the 

 feathers on the breast, and flanks with mesial dark streaks, which take an oval 

 shape lower down. Thigh coverts unspotted rufous fawn. Under wing 



