I may mention that the female of this species so closely 

 resembles the Common Kestrel that I do not consider 

 it necessary to give a representation of her, the only 

 constant differences between females of these two species 

 being the smaller size and the white claws of the present 

 bird. . The Lesser Kestrel abounds in Andalucia, and 

 is also common in many districts of Central Spain ; 

 in general habits, flight, and cry it is barely to be dis- 

 tinguished from the larger species, but it is perhaps more 

 exclusively insectivorous than the Common Kestrel, and 

 rarely, in my experience, nests in trees. It is of course 

 difficult to compute the numerical proportion of two very 

 similar species when seen in the air together, but I am 

 disposed to consider the Lesser Kestrel as more abundant 

 in Andalucia during the summer months than its larger 



congener. 



My kindly readers will, I trust, pardon me for sum- 

 ming up my remarks on the Little Kestrel by quoting 

 from my own " Notes on the Ornithology of Spain " 

 published in the ' Ibis ' for 1865 : — " The two species of 

 Kestrel are, I think, in April and May, the commonest 

 birds in Andalucia, with perhaps the exception of the 

 Bee-eater. 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 occasion, notably at Castro 

 del Rio in April 1864. Both species of Kestrel continue 

 on wing long after dark." I would amend the last 

 sentence by substituting the word sunset for " dark." 

 The eggs of this species are of a lighter colour than the 



