164 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



vindhiana) and the steppe eagle (A. bifasciata) are so 

 alike that some authorities are inclined to regard 

 them as a single species. But the former lives in the 

 plains all the year round and breeds in and about 

 Lahore, while the steppe eagle goes to the hills in the 

 hot weather to breed, and appears quite unable to 

 endure heat. The one caught at Wazirabad in the 

 cold weather of 1906-7 and confined in the local 

 " Zoo " died comparatively early in the hot weather, 

 whereas the tawny eagle, kept in the same cage, has 

 all along flourished like the green bay tree. The 

 shikra (Astur badius) and the sparrow hawk (Accipiter 

 nisus), although ornithologists now place them in 

 different genera, are so much alike that it is easy to 

 mistake one for the other, yet the former is a perma- 

 nent resident while the latter is a migrant. Similarly 

 the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a winter 

 visitor to the plains of the Punjab, while its cousin the 

 laggar (Falco jugger) is a permanent resident. In the 

 same way the Turumti or red-headed merlin abides 

 with us all the year round, while the common merlin 

 (Aesalon regulus) visits us only in winter. 



Almost the only raptorial winter visitor that has 

 not a cousin who lives in the plains throughout the 

 year is the kestrel (Tinnunculus alaudarius), the bird 

 known in England as the Windhover. This is perhaps 

 the easiest to identify of all the birds of prey, on account 

 of its habit of hovering on vibrating wings, like the 

 pied kingfisher, high in the air, over a spot where it 

 thinks that there is quarry in the shape of some small 

 rodent. If the surmise be correct the kestrel drops 



