2738 The Zoologist — September, 1871. 



" In a series of specimens which Lord Walden was kind enough to 

 submit to us from India, Cejlon, and Burmah, we noticed many very pale- 

 coloured specimens along with other individuals which it would have been 

 impossible to distinguish from British-killed kestrels, so that there can 

 be no doubt that the European bird goes into India ; and it also probably 

 occurs in Northern China ; but at present we believe that it is the dark 

 Japanese form which takes its place in Southern China, and thence north- 

 ward to Japan. 



" The present species is a common bird in Great Britain, breeding every- 

 where. It is to a certain extent migratory, as noticed by Watcrton ; and 

 Mr. Hepburn, in a note contributed to Macgillivray's ' British Birds,' says 

 60 also. Macgillivray himself considers that in the districts bordering the 

 Firth of Forth they are as numerous in winter as in summer, if not more 

 BO, and that probably, ' like the merlin, this species merely migrates 

 from the interior to the coast.' In the North of Ireland Thompson con- 

 siders them to be quite as numerous in winter as in summer in their usual 

 haunts. 



" Mr. Stevenson, in the ' Birds of Norfolk,' says : — 



" ' Migratory specimens from the north also appear on our coast in con- 

 siderable numbers towards the end of autumn, when many are trapped and 

 shot on the hills by the sea-side, particularly about Northrepps and Beestar, 

 near Cromer. It is probable, I think, that some of our native birds proceed 

 further south during severe weather ; and I believe, as a rule, like our 

 common song thrush, they quit altogether the more exposed parts of the 

 country in the depth of winter. In more sheltered localities, however, they 

 are observed at all seasons. A pair which regularly frequent the ruined 

 steeple of Keswick church, near Norwich, have been seen, by my friend 

 Mr. Edwards, skimming over the fields in search of prey whilst the snow 

 was lying deep ; and the thrashing out of a stack in autumn or winter is 

 sure to bring them at once to the spot to seize, at a respectful distance, on 

 the mice thus expelled from their snug quarters.' 



" Nilsson writes : — 



" ' In Southern Sweden it is one of our commonest birds of prey, as it is 

 one of the handsomest. It is found, however, more in the southern than the 

 northern part of our peninsula. In the north it is scarce, and more so as 

 one approaches the polar circle, within which it seldom penetrates. Still 

 it is found far to the north, and is not rare at Trondhjem, and at Tarroch, 

 on the Bindelsfiord, on the borders of Helgoland, where it inhabits the high 

 cliffs. I have also found it inhabiting the fells of Western Norway, far 

 above the tree-growth, and nearly at an altitude where the snow always lies. 

 Here it inhabits high steep cliffs.' 



" Mr. WoUey's collection contained four eggs of the kestrel taken at 

 Petaja-vaara, Kemi-Lappmark, about lat. 68° N., in May, 1857. The people 



