FALCONING. 





with a broad black terminal band, white tipped at the end ; beneath 

 white, unspotted to the breast ; all the rest of the lower parts with 

 narrow cross bands of dusky grey ; quills with the inner webs 

 banded dusky and whitish ; tail with narrow cross bars, conspicu- 

 ous beneath, not seen above. 



Young bird : head, nape, and moustache dark dusky-rufous, 

 with dark mesial lines ; the upper parts grey, with dark markings 

 to all the feathers ; quills darker ; tail with numerous bars, and a 

 broad black terminal band ; beneath white, more or less tinged 

 rusty, with some streaks on the neck and breast, and broadish 

 bars on the abdomen and thigh-coverts. 



The Turumti is more or less common throughout the region. 

 It frequents open country in the vicinity of cultivation, and I 

 have often obtained its nest within village enclosures. It com- 

 mences to breed in January, and nests may be found quite up 

 to the end of March. They prefer rather high trees, such as 

 tamarind and peepul, and in a fork near the top, they construct 

 rather a neat cup-shaped nest of twigs, lined with grass, roots, 

 &c. It would be rather a difficult nest to find were it not for 

 the fussy habit the bird has of darting out, attacking, and 

 driving away any bird that may happen to come near the tree. 

 Jerdon says that they do not hesitate to attack the Tawny Eagle. 

 The usual number of eggs is four, but I have occasionally found 

 only three, well incubated. They are rather longish ovals, some- 

 what chalky in texture, of a yellowish or reddish-brown color, 

 closely stippled, blotched, mottled and clouded with darker shades 

 of the same color. 



They average 1'65 inches in length by about T25 in breadth. 



GENUS, Cerchneis. 



Tarsi long, strong, with transverse hexagonal scales ; rest as in 

 Falco. 



Cerchneis tinnunculus, Lin. 



17. Tinnunculus alaudarius, Brisson. Jerdon's Birds of India, 

 Vol. I, p. 38 ; Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, 

 p. 444 ; Deccan and South Mahratta country ; Stray Feathers, 

 Vol. IX, p. 370 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 71 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 56 ; Hume's 

 Scrap Book, p. 96. 



THE KESTRIL. 



Narzi, Hin. 



c? Length, 13 to 14 ; expanse, 30 ; wing, 10 ; tail, 6'25 ; bill from 

 gape, 0'85; tarsus, 1'53. 



o Length, 15 ; wing, 1075 ; tail, 7. 



Bill yellowish at the base, bluish-black at tips and on culmen ; 

 irides brown ; cere and orbits bright yellow ; legs and feet bright 

 orange-yellow ; claws blackish-horny. 



Male : forehead yellowish ; head, nape and tail fine ashy- 



