1 84 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



and British India. The adult male has the back light 

 chestnut, with small spots of black; head, neck, lower 

 back, and tail, bluish-grey, with a broad black band near 

 the terminal end, and tipped with white ; under parts, buff, 

 spotted and streaked with black ; irides, brown ; bill, bluish, 

 yellowish at the base ; legs and feet, yellow. Length, from 

 ten to thirteen inches. The female is the larger. 



LESSER KESTREL. 



THE Lesser Kestrel (Falco cenchris, Naumann) is an ex- 

 ceedingly rare spring and autumn migrant to the British 

 Isles, and is found in summer on the northern shores of 

 the Mediterranean, and to the east into Persia. It is only 

 a straggler to Northern Europe. The adult male in coloura- 

 tion closely resembles Falco tinminculus, but is smaller in 

 size, and the back has no black spots, the innermost second- 

 aries being greyish instead of rufous ; irides, dark hazel ; 

 cere, yellow, bill, bluish-black at tip, yellowish at base; 

 legs and feet, yellow ; claws, generally white. Length, from 

 about eleven to twelve inches. The adult female is similar 

 to the adult female of the common kestrel, but is smaller 

 in size, and the claws, as a rule, are white. (P. 185.) 



