NOTES ON CEKCHNEIS VESPERTINA AND C. AMURENSIS. 303 



high some 20 or 30 feet above the tops of the tallest trees. The 

 party appeared soon after sunset, and at first their flight was 

 slow and heavy ; as darkness increased however they became 

 more active, and invariably caught their food on the wing. 

 On dissection the bird proved to be excessively fat, and its 

 stomach contained several large green bugs and vellow 

 beetles. 



ITotcs 0it Cerdmeis bcspcrtimt anb C. amurensis. 



By R. Bowdler Sharpe, f.l.s., f.z.s. etc., 



Mr. Hume having expressed a wish (S. F., II., p. 527) that 

 some one should give the differences between the Eastern and 

 Western Red-footed Kestrels in all their respective plumages, I 

 believe I can do this from the series now in the British Muse- 

 um, and I trust that it will be useful in enabling Indian orni- 

 thologists to distinguish between the two species, so that we 

 may arrive at their proper geographical distribution. In the 

 table of Kestrels, given in the Catalogue of Birds, (p. 423) 

 I have included both sexes of each species that I was certain 

 of, in order to make the identification of all the plumages an 

 easy matter, but in this particular table I did not introduce the 

 young birds owing to my not having before me a sufficiently- 

 complete series ; as, however, examples of the immature pluma- 

 ges of both the Red-legged Kestrels are present in the museum, 

 I will give an additional table specially with reference to the 

 point mentioned by Mr. Hume. 

 a. — Tail uniform leaden grey. 



a. — Under wing-coverts and axillaries bluish grey like 



breast vespertinus, £ ad. 



I'. — Under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white ; breast 



grey amurensis <$ ad. 



b. — Tail grey, banded with black. 



c. — Dorsal plumes broadly barred with blackish but not 

 margined with rufous. 

 a". — Under surface rufous, either uniform or with 

 slight remains of blackish shaft lines vespertinus, ? . 

 b". — Under surface creamy white ; the breast broadly 

 streaked and the flanks barred with black; abdo- 

 men, thighs, and under tail-coverts uniform pale 



rufous amurensis, ? . 



d'. — Dorsal plumes barred with blackish ; but also 



broadly barred at the tips with rufous. 



c". — Head rufous with narrow shaft-lines of black ; 



forehead whitish ; under surface of body buff, 



streaked down the centres of the feathers with 



