FALCONS. 



185 



only a local race. The female attains a length of 13, and the male of \\\ inches. 

 The turumti is spread all over India, generally haunting open country in the 

 neighbourhood of cultivation. Jerdon writes that " it frequents gardens, groves 

 of trees, and even single trees in the open country, whence it sallies forth, sometimes 

 circling aloft, but more generally, especially in the heat of the day, gliding with 

 inconceivable rapidity along some hedgerow, dam of a tank, or across h'elds, and 



TURUMTI FALCON ( nat. size). 



pouncing suddenly on some lark, sparrow, or wagtail. It very often hunts in 

 pairs, and I have now and then seen it hover like a kestrel for a few seconds/' 

 In addition to the smaller birds, the turumti will attack starlings, quails, and doves, 

 while it will sometimes prey on bats. It nests from February to May, apparently 

 always in trees, laying usually four eggs, of which the colour varies from yellowish 

 brown, with a few reddish specks, to nearly uniform brownish red. Mr. R 

 Thompson, in a letter to Mr. Hume, observes that "I have trained this species 

 to be thrown from the hand at quails and partridges. The bird readily learns the 



