129 



he writes, " not uncommon in April and May, and passes sometimes in flocks of nearly a hundred, 

 but is not so often seen as F. tinnunculus. I have also obtained it in autumn." 



Loche found it "less common in Algiers than the Kestrel, and, like this bird, feeding on 

 small mammals, birds, insects, or, when pressed by hunger, small reptiles. He says he never found 

 them in large flocks, but singly or in pairs. It nests there in the neighbourhood of Boghar." 



Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake, writing on the Birds of Tangiers and Eastern Morocco, says it 

 "passes over during the March migration, but remains all the year at Laraiche. I obtained 

 several specimens thence in February ; and it also breeds there." 



Lord Lilford states that it " visits Corfu and the mainland in spring. I killed a specimen 

 near Prevesa on the 20th March, 1857, and bought a good pair in the Corfu market in the 

 month of April of the following year. This and the following species are seen in small flocks of 

 from five to ten or twelve, and appear to feed exclusively on insects." 



Von der Muhle writes as follows : — 



" They are as common in Greece, or at least in the Morea, as the Common Kestrel ; they 

 arrive in April, and swarm in the swampy meadows, and from their habit of hovering they form 

 a curious sight. Like the Common Kestrel they hover over their prey, drop on it, catch it, and 

 rising again into the air devour it, seldom acting otherwise. By careful observation they may be 

 seen biting off the feet and wings of the grasshoppers and letting them drop. Those we examined 

 had in their stomachs grasshoppers, lizards, and moles, but never frogs." 



Dr. Lindermayer also says : — 



" The commonest Hawk after the Common Kestrel. In the spring it arrives with its con- 

 geners on the plains and islands of Greece, and spreads itself over the whole country, breeding 

 not only in ruins but in inhabited houses. It feeds on beetles, grasshoppers, and sometimes on 

 small lizards. In the stomachs of those I have shot immediately after their arrival in Greece, I 

 invariably found remains of North- African beetles. It leaves us very early, so that, in Attica at 

 least, none are seen after the end of August." 



Dr. Finsch records it from Bulgaria, and the following note has been published by Messrs. 

 Elwes and Buckley in their list of the Birds of Turkey : — 



" We never observed this species but once, when snowed up in a Bulgarian village near 

 Salonica on March 6th. Early in the morning a Lesser Kestrel, which had probably just 

 arrived, flew against the house and was killed. We do not think it is found commonly, except 

 in the most southern part of the country." 



Kriiper, writing from south-eastern Europe, observes : — 



" One of the commonest Hawks. I did not note its first arrival, but put it down as late in 

 March. In many Turkish villages (as, for instance, in Turbali) the place swarms with these 

 Hawks. Here it is useful as an exterminator of grasshoppers, and is therefore valued by the 

 Turks. Its eggs are placed, without any nest, under the eaves on the clay walls of houses and 

 stables. I also found a nest in a hole in a mulberry-tree. The eggs are four to five, seldom six, 

 in number. Near Smyrna the breeding-season commences early in May ; on the 24th I found 

 the first young." 



Mr. Robson writes to us as follows : — 



" This species is not uncommon in Asia Minor and Turkey in Europe at the time of 



T 



