428 



With age the black bars on both the upper and lower surface 

 become narrow and tend to disappear. In young birds all the grey 

 feathers of the upper plumage are barred with black, the crown 

 and nape are dusky rufous, with dark mesial lines to the feathers, 

 and the lower parts are tinged rusty. These details are from 

 Jerdon, and precisely agree with those of the young ^2?. ruficollis, an 

 African species very closely allied to A chicguera. Of the Turumti 

 itself, strange to say, there is no young skin in the British Museum, 

 though there must be more than 50 adults. 



Bill bluish black, greenish yellow at the base ; cere, orbital skin, 

 and legs yellow ; irides rather light brown (Hume). 



Length of female about 14 ; tail 6 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-6 ; mid- 

 toe 1*6 ; bill from gape '9. 



Distribution. This Falcon is peculiar to India, being found from 

 the Himalayas to Southern India, and it probably occurs occasion- 

 ally in Ceylon. It ranges to the Punjab and Sind, and to the 

 eastward as far as Sylhet and Cachar. It has not been observed in 

 Assam, but Hume once saw a single individual in Manipur. 



Habits, Sfc. This pretty little Falcon is not a bird of forests, but 

 is chiefly found in cultivated districts where there are gardens and 

 groves of trees. It lives mainly on small birds, and has been 

 occasionally captured and trained, its principal quarry being the 

 Boiler ( Coracias indica). The nest is always on a tree and is a 

 neat structure of twigs lined with fibres ; 4 eggs are usually laid 

 between January and May, generally about March. The eggs are 

 brownish red mottled and blotched with a darker red, and measure 

 about 1-66 by 1-27. 



Chicquera, as Jerdon points out, is a corrupt form of Shikra, the 

 name of Astur badius. Similarly the common Indian name for a 

 Kite, Chil, has been wrongly given to the Crested Serpent-Eagle, 

 Spilornis cheela. 



Genus TINNUNCULTJS, Vieillot, 1807. 



The Kestrels differ from the true Falcons by having a shorter 

 bill and a much smaller and weaker foot, the middle toe without 

 the claw being only to f the length of the tarsus. The tail is 

 longer and the feathers graduated, the outer rectrices 1 to 1| 

 inches shorter than the middle pair, and the wing is shorter. The 

 sexes differ, and the females and young have the upper parts 

 banded black and rufous. 



Key to the Species. 



a . Claws black T. alaudarius, p. 428. 



b. Claws whitish or pale horny T. cenchris, p. 430. 



1265. Tinmmculus alaudarius. The Kestrel. 



Falco tinmmculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766) : Wardl Ramsay. 



Ibis, 1880, p 47. 

 Falco alaudarius, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 279 (1788). 



