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it in the Central Amoor ; but it is doubtless found here, as Schrenck observed it on the Ussuri, and 

 Dr. Maack brought it from the headwaters of the Amoor." 



We believe that the observations of Pallas regarding the range of the Kestrel are correct, as 

 borne out to a great extent by Radde. The Amoor bird must certainly be the same as the 

 Japanese dark race, and therefore is not the true F. tinnunculus. We believe also that the birds 

 observed by Eadde in the Baikal region belonged also to the Japanese form. 



The Kestrel appears to be still an unsettled species, and has doubtless been at one time a 

 thorough migrant from Europe. In the East it still follows its migratory instincts, but in the 

 west of Europe has become more or less sedentary. The great gatherings above alluded to by 

 Pallas seem to point to the southern deserts of Siberia and Central Asia as the place whence the 

 southward migration of the Kestrel still emanates in full force ; and from that point the line of 

 flight seems to take a southerly direction. Part of the migration populates India in the cold 

 season, and part proceeds in the direction of North-eastern Africa, as we shall presently see. 



Major Irby has stated that in Oudh and Kumaon it is common during the cold season, and 

 occasionally seen during the rains ; and Dr. Jerdon, in his ' Birds of India,' writes as follows : — 



" The Kestrel is a cold-weather visitant to India, one of our earliest, indeed, and it does not 

 leave till April. It is most abundant, being found in every part of the country, and at all 

 elevations. Its chief food is lizards ; but it also eats rats and mice, insects, especially grasshoppers 

 and locusts, and rarely young or sickly birds. It constantly hovers over a spot where it has 

 observed something move, and, when certain of its presence, drops down on it with noiseless wing. 

 Blyth mentions that parties of twenty or thirty individuals may be seen together beating over the 

 cultivated lands in Lower Bengal. This I have never witnessed. It does not breed in this 

 country. Dr. Horsfield, in his ' Catalogue,' apparently quoting from Mr. Blyth, says, ' It breeds 

 in April in lofty trees, and also on the top of minarets.' I imagine he must have been quoting 

 from some other naturalist, not an observer in India. It used to be trained occasionally in 

 Europe to hunt Larks, Quails, and other small birds ; but it is scouted by the Indian falconers as 

 an ignoble race." 



Following the line of migration in a south-westerly direction, we find that the Kestrel was 

 obtained in Mesopotamia by Commander Jones, and at Trebizond by Mr. Keith Abbott. The 

 late Mr. Strickland has recorded it as rare near Smyrna. Mr. Gurney has received it from 

 Beyrout, in Syria. In Palestine it appears to be sedentary; but the line of migration must 

 sometimes, if not always, traverse this country. The following are Dr. Tristram's observations on 

 the bird as observed by him in the latter country : — 



" The Kestrel is excessively common in every part of the country throughout the year, up to 

 the confines of the southern desert. In the Ghor, and in the eastern forests among the ruins of 

 Amman and Gerash, in the desolate gorges of the Dead Sea, among the luxuriant gardens of the 

 coast, and in the sacred recesses of the mosques of Omar and Hebron it equally abounds. It is 

 generally gregarious, ten or twenty pairs breeding in the same ruins, and rearing their young 

 about the end of March. It often builds its nest in the recesses of the caves which are occupied 

 by the Griffons, and is the only bird which the Eagles appear to permit to live in close proximity 

 to them. At Amman, too, it builds in the ruins in company with the Jackdaws; and in several 

 places, as at Lydda and Nazareth, large colonies are mixed indiscriminately with those of the 



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