ACCIPITRES. 

 FALC0NID2E. 



FALCONING. 



Genus CERCHNEIS. 



Bill shorter and more suddenly curved than in Falco; wings as in that genus, but the 1st 

 quill shorter, and the 1st and 2nd notched on the inner web. Tail longer than in the last; tarsi 

 longer and more feeble. Lateral toes nearly equal, the scales rectangular up to the base of 

 the toes. 



Of small size. Sexes generally differing in coloration. Sternum weaker than in Falco. 



CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULUS. 



(THE COMMON KESTREL.) 



Falco tinnunculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766); Gould, B. of Europe, i. pi. 26 (1837); 



Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 52 (1843) ; Schl. Vog. Nederl. pis. 9, 10 (1854) ; Sharpe & Dresser, 



B. of Eur. pt. 2 (1871); Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. p. 79 (1872). 

 Falco alaudarius, Gm. S. N. i. p. 279 (1788). 

 Cerchneis tinnuncula, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 314; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 425 (1874); David 



& Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 36 (1877). 

 Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gray, Gen. Birds, i. p. 21 (1844) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. no. 69, 



]>. 15 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 115 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 



1853, xii. p. 102; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 13 (1854); Gould, B. 



Gt. Brit, pt. ii. (1862) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 38 (1862) ; Tristram, Ibis, 1865, p. 259 ; 



Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 96 (1869); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 410; Du Cane 



Godman, Ibis, 1872, p. 165; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 21 (1873); Legge, Ibis, 1874, 



p. 10; Scully, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 120; Brooks, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 228. 

 Cerchneis alaudarius, Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 460. 

 L'Eperoier des Alouettes, Briss. Orn. i. p. 279 (1760). 

 La Cresserelle, Briss. Orn. i. p. 393 (1760). 

 " Windhover" " Stonegall," popularly in England ; C'crnicalo, Primilla, Spanish (Saunders); 



Francilho, Portuguese ; Sweef, Moorish (Drake) ; Narzi (female), Narzanak (male), Hind. 



(Jerdon); Khurmutia, Kurumtia, Karontia, Hind. (Blyth); Nardunak, Scinde ; Gytthin, 



Tondala-mucld (jedda, lit. "Lizard-killing Kite,"Tel. (Jerd.) ; Kurf/an,ak,TiiYkestan (Scully). 

 Ukussa, Kurullagoya, Sinhalese ; Walluru, Ceylonese Tamils. 



■ I " ' '''• Length to front of cere 12-5 to 13-5 inches ; culnien from cere 0-6 ; wing 9-6 to 10-2 (9-7 to 9-9 being the 



average); tail 6-5 to 7-0; tarsus 1-4 to 1-6; mid toe 1-05 to 1-15, claw (straight) 0-45; height of bill at cere 0-35. 



in :i large series examined in the British Museum I find that Asiatic examples measure as much as, if not more 

 than. European, the largest specimen, having a wing of 10-2, being from Behar. 



