50 LESSER KESTREL. 
of the wing - coverts of a brick red, dark without spots; some of the 
large wing coverts and rump bluish ash. Primaries blackish brown, 
with a narrow edging of rufous; secondaries brownish grey, lighter 
on the back, and some of them edged narrowly with rufous; throat 
white; lower belly and under tail coverts yellowish white; chest and 
abdomen clear reddish russet, studded with small spots and longitudinal 
black streaks. Thighs rufous, without spots; tail blue grey, with a 
black band tipped with white at the end; cere, iris, feet, and toes, 
yellow; claws white. 
The female differs from the male considerably, a fact upon which, 
following Temminck too closely, I in the first edition was led into 
error. I take from Mr. Dresser's elaborate description the following: 
— "Adult female. Tawny red, the crown longitudinally marked with 
narrow black shaft stripes, becoming broader on the back of the neck; 
lores and indistinct eyebrow whitish; cheeks silvery white: feathers 
round the eye black. Scapulars and interscapulars barred transversely; 
wing coverts the same, with but one of a paler red; lower part of 
back, rump, and upper tail coverts rather more narrowly barred and 
somewhat tinged with grey; quills brown, dirty white on the inner 
web, which is irregularly notched and barred; the secondaries rufous, 
barred with brown like the back; tail pale fawn, irregularly banded 
with brown, the last bar before the tip of the tail black; throat, 
abdomen, and thighs fulvous, unspotted; breast, yellowish fawn, the 
shafts of the feathers on the upper part distinctly marked with longi- 
tudinal lines of brown, the lower part of the breast thickly spotted, 
the flanks more so, and the shafts indicated by a broad black line, 
widening out towards the apex of the feather; bill, feet, nails, and 
iris as in the male." 
The young somewhat resembles the female, but has the two central 
tail feathers entirely grey. 
Mr. Dresser has a beautiful illustration of an old and young male. 
He will now rank among the authors he quotes, all of whom, except 
Naumann and Geoffrey St. Hilaire, have only illustrated males, namely 
— Gould, Werner, Bree, and Fritzch. 
The illustrations of the eggs are from specimens in my own collec- 
tion, the darker sent to me by Herr Seideiisacher from Cilli, the 
lighter variety was taken by Herr Glitzch in Southern Russia. 
