THE KESTRELS. 205 



Jerchneis naumanni, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 435 (1874). 

 Tinnunculus cenchris, B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 104 (1883). 



Adult Male. General colour above rich cinnamon-rufous, 

 the entire head and hind-neck, lower back, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail blue-grey, the latter tipped with white, and 

 crossed with a broad sub-terminal bar of black ; lores and a few 

 streaks on the cheeks whitish ; lesser and median wing-coverts 

 cinnamon-rufous, like the back, a few of the outer median 

 wing-coverts washed with blue-grey ; greater coverts and inner 

 secondaries blue-grey, washed with rufous externally, the 

 primaries being dark brown ; throat deep buffy-white ; breast 

 pale cinnamon or vinous, with a few blackish spots, becoming 

 larger on the sides of the body; thighs paler rufous, unspotted; 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts yellowish-white ; under wing- 

 coverts white, with a few tiny oval spots of black, larger on the 

 axillaries ; bill light blue, yellow at base and blackish at the 

 tip ; cere, orbits, and feet beautiful yellow ; iris dark brown. 

 Total length, 12*5 inches ; culmen, 075 ; wing, 9*1 ; tail, 6'o; 

 tarsus, i -2. 



Adult Female. Different from the male. Above tawny-rufous, 

 transversely barred with blackish-brown, the bars narrower and 

 more obscure on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 

 the latter being washed with grey ; tail rufous, barred with 

 black, tipped with whitish, with a broad sub-terminal band of 

 black ; head and neck rather paler rufous, the former broadly, 

 the latter more narrowly, streaked with blackish shaft-lines ; 

 primaries dark brown, barred on the inner web with rufous, the 

 secondaries coloured like the back, the outer ones narrowly 

 margined with white at the tip ; throat, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts buffy-white, without spots ; breast inclining to rufous 

 fawn-colour, all the feathers mesially streaked with blackish, 

 these stripes being broader on the flanks, and very tiny on the 

 thighs, which are also paler rufous. Total length, 12-5 inches; 

 culmen, 07; wing, 9-3; tail, 5-9; tarsus, 1*2. 



Young Birds. At first resemble the old female, but are paler 

 and not so strongly marked. The male, in his second season, 

 assumes the blue tail by a moult, but the blue head is assumed 

 apparently by a change of feather, as I believe is the case with 

 the Common Kestrel also. 



