FALCONHXE. 21 



the back of the head and two white spots on the 

 tertials ; throat white, running into yellowish rusty 

 on the sides; breast and all the under parts nearly 

 white, transversely marked with frequent short bars 

 of yellowish rusty; under tail-coverts white; tail 

 bluish grey, barred with dusky. The general 

 colouring of the upper parts of the young birds is 

 dark brown, the feathers being more or less broadly 

 bordered with rusty; throat white, streaked with 

 brown ; under parts something like the mature bird, 

 but much darker, in consequence of the transverse 

 bars being much broader and of a darkish brown 

 colour ; tail brown, barred with darker, each feather 

 narrowly edged with rusty ; quills dusky ; shafts 

 rusty, and in a few of the feathers the outer web 

 rust}'' ; the legs are yellow in all. The young nest- 

 lings are covered with white down, much like young 

 Kestrels. 



The eggs of the Sparrowhawk are much less liable 

 to be mistaken than those of the last three species. 

 The ground colour is a sort of light green (which in 

 preserved specimens fades almost to white, and quite 

 so if they are kept much in the light), more or less 

 blotched with rich red-brown : size nearly the same 

 as those of the Kestrel. 



KITE, Milvus vulgaris. The Kite is now becoming 

 very rare throughout England, its size rendering it 

 conspicuous to keepers and others who wish for its 

 destruction. It is said to take its prey principally 



