Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 175 



that F. harharus has as yet been admitted into the list of Euro- 

 pean birds ; but I feel little doubt that the Common Falcon of 

 Southern Spain belongs to that form, though the real F. pere- 

 grinus also occurs, as, for instance, as mentioned above, in the 

 island of Minorca. I was assured by Senor Graells that the 

 Lanner {Falco lanarius) and La Marmora's 1^2i\coxi{Hypotriorchis 

 eleanorce) have to his knowledge occurred in Spain — the former 

 species in Catalonia, and, I think, the latter in Murcia or Va- 

 lencia. For particulars of Brehm's Falco gracilis I must refer 

 my readers to that author's account of the Birds of Spain, pub- 

 lished in the ' Naturhistorische Zeitung,' merely stating, as my 

 own opinion, that this F. gracilis is only Hypotriorchis eleanorce 

 in one of its many now well-known variations of plumage. The 

 Hobby {Hyptriorchis subbuteo) is not uncommon in Andalucia, 

 where I have several times seen it, and is found more or less 

 commonly throughout Spain during the summer. The Orange- 

 legged Hobby {Erythropus vesper tinus) I saw once in Andalucia, 

 and there is a specimen in the Museum of Valencia, but it is not, 

 I think, a common bird in any part of Spain. 



The two species of Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus and F. tinnun- 

 culoides, are, I think, in April and May, the commonest birds in 

 Andalucia, with perhaps the exception of the Bee-eater [Merops 

 apiaster). Every church-steeple, belfry, and tower, every town 

 and village, every ruin swarms with them ; I believe I am not at 

 all beyond the mark in saying that I have seen three or four 

 hundred on wing at the same moment on more than one occa- 

 sion, particularly at Castro del Rio in April 1864. I think the 

 Little Kestrel is somewhat the most abundant of the two species. 

 The cry of these pretty birds is as certain to strike the ear in the 

 towns of Andalucia, as the twang of the guitar and click of the 

 castanets. Both species of Kestrel continue on wing long after 

 dark. Li the delicious summer nights of Southern Spain, when 

 all the louder sounds of human life are hushed, and nothing 

 breaks the silence but the monotonous note of the little Scops 

 Owl, and the " wet my lips " of innumerable Quails, I have occa- 

 sionally been roused from a reverie by the cry of the Kestrels 

 over my head, seemingly passing and repassing, and carrying on 

 their usual evolutions in spite of the darkness. Whilst on this 



