The Zoologist— September, 1871. 2735 



From this it appears that the area is neither strictly natural nor 

 strictly political, Greenland seeming rather more naturally to 

 belong to America, and the Atlantic Islands seeming to impinge 

 rather inconveniently on a subtropical Fauna, to which I may have 

 hereafter occasion to revert. 



Now, with regard to the work itself, I hold that by giving one 

 example of the treatment of a species I shall impart a correct, and 

 therefore fair, idea of the mode in which all are treated ; and I have 

 selected for this purpose a bird with which everyone is familiar, 

 and one which has been truthfully called "the farmer's friend," 

 and is variously known as the stannel, steingall, stonegall, wind- 

 hover, or kestrel. 



"FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 



(common kestrel.) 



Falco tinnunculiis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766). 

 Cerchneis tinnuncula, Bole, Isis, 1828, p. 314. 

 ^gypius tinnunculus, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 29 (1829). 

 Falco fasciatus, Eetz. Faun. Suec. p. 70 (1800). 

 Falco brunneus, Bechst. Ornitb. Taschenb. p. 38 (1802). 

 Cerchneis murum, Brebm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 70 (1831). 

 Cerchneis media, Brebm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 72 (1831). 

 Falco rufescens. Swains. B. of W. Afr. i. p. 109 (1837;. 

 Falco interstinctus, Maclell. P. Z. S. 1839, p. 154. 

 Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gray, Gen. of B. i. p. 3 (1840). 



Faucon-cresserelle, French ; Thurm-Falke, German ; Taamfalk, Danish ; 

 Tomfalk, Swedish; Taamfalk, Norwegian; Cernicalo, Spanish; 

 Francelho, or Peneireiro, Portuguese; Oheppio, Italian. 



" Adult Male. Head clear blue-grey, the feathers mesially streaked with 

 narrow black shaft-stripes, these being broader on the nape ; forehead 

 and eyebrow whitish ; cheeks silvery grey ; a distinct moustache from 

 the front of the eye blackish grey ; sides of the neck fulvescent, with 

 narrow little streaks; back, scapularies, and wing-coverts rufous, 

 marked with triangular black spots near the apex of the feather, some 

 of these spots being larger than others ; quills blackish, margined with 

 dirty white, the inner web transversely barred with whitish; the 

 secondaries rufous, hke the back, the outer ones varied with black 

 bai-s, the inner ones almost entirely rufous, with a black triangular 

 spot near the tip ; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 clear blue-grey ; tail blue-grey, with a broad black band running across 

 the end, the tips of the feathers fulvous ; throat fulvous, unspotted ; 



