observed in the Vic'inttij of JTei Hal IVei. i\7\) 



Some nests were observed which appeared to have been 

 built by the birds themselves^ perhaps on a foundation laid 

 by a Magpie: they were made of rather small sticks_, and 

 lined with grass. 



This species, as Abbe David has pointed out, is very tame 

 and confiding, and frequently breeds close to villages or even 

 inside the walls of a city. Several nests arc sometimes 

 discovered in close proximity. 



This species may breed when quite immature, and a iiair, 

 in plumage Avliich indicated their youth, was obtained from 

 a nest containing eggs on June 23th. It is a late breeder, 

 and, as a rule, eggs are not laid until the last \vcek of June, 

 or the first week of July. 



Four is the most usual number of eggs in a clutch, three 

 is not uncommon, but five is rare. These eggs are of 

 two types, one brownish or sepia-coloured and the other 

 reddish. Most specimens are marked thickly with reddish 

 sj)ots on a yellowish-white ground, and a few are richly and 

 heavily blotched witli large cloudy markings. Some eggs are 

 quite light in colour, being faintly marked with small brown 

 spots on a yellowish ground, whilst others, again, are entirely 

 yellowish-white, with scanty and scattered spots of sepia- 

 colour. 



Forty eggs from Shantung average 1*41 x I'll, and vary 

 in length from 1*47 to r31 and in width from 1"19 to 108. 



FaLCO TrNNUNCULUS. 



The Kestrel is fairly common as a resident in and about 

 Wei Hai Wei, each pair of birds ajjpropriating some range 

 of cliffs or a bold headland to themselves. The numbers 

 of this species, like those of so many others, are vastly 

 augmented in August and September by the arrival of 

 numerous migrants from further north. 



So far as is known, this species, unlike the nearly allied 

 FalcQ amurensis, never nests in a tree at Wei Hai Wei ; 

 but invariably in some cleft of the cliffs or rocks by the 

 sea-shore. 



2z'i 



