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them almost at my feet. Though I have never found the Lesser Kestrel either in Asia or Africa, 

 except in company with the common species, yet it seems to be without the power of adaptation 

 possessed by its congener, confining itself to old towers and rocks, and living always in com- 

 munities more or less numerous. I obtained some beautiful specimens at Ramleh. There is a 

 still larger colony about the old ruined English church of Lyddah, over the reputed tomb of 

 ' St. George of merrie England.' " 



Mr. E. C. Taylor remarks, "with the exception of one male, killed about the end of March, 

 I never saw this species in Egypt ; but I believe it arrives in great numbers later in the spring, 

 and breeds in the country." 



Capt. G. E. Shelley also says, " I only shot this bird once ; this was towards the end of 

 March, near Benisooef." 



It is evident, however, that both the above observers were not in Egypt at the time that the 

 present species returns, as will be seen by the following observations. 



Dr. von Heuglin writes : — 



" Visits, as a migrant, in autumn and spring, Egypt, Arabia, Nubia, Kordofan, and Abys- 

 sinia, and is often found in large flocks in the acacia- and date-woods and on the steppes. In 

 Egypt it remains from the middle of March to early in May, and passes again in September and 

 October. A few pair are said to breed in the fortifications of Alexandria. According to Vier- 

 thaler, a perfect army of these Hawks were seen on the Blue Nile, above a low wood, which was 

 full of locusts. We also saw a similar flock in April at Memphis, and in October at Keren, in 

 the Bogos country. They moult, like the Common Kestrel, in November and December." 



Mr. S. Stafford Allen also observes : — 



" The Kestrel (which, by the way, runs much smaller in size than British or Maltese speci- 

 mens), as Dr. Adams observes, is excessively abundant in Egypt, and breeds in April, choosing 

 for that purpose palm-trees, sycamores, or old ruins, particularly the half-ruined 'koubbehs' or 

 mosque-tombs of Arab saints, which are of frequent occurrence. 



" Its near relation, the Lesser Kestrel, is not seen in winter, but comes northward in March 

 and April in flocks, often associated with Erythropus vespertinus (Linn.), with which it seems to 

 have considerable affinity. I have observed in the former species (T. cenchris) that the sexes 

 appear to keep separate in their peregrinations, the females decidedly preponderating in numbers. 

 The reverse is the case with the elegant little Merlin, which Dr. Adams seems not to have met 

 with. Stragglers are seen occasionally during the winter months, but in March and April it is 

 rather a common bird. The birds shot in Egypt are almost invariably males, as I have only 

 seen two females out of dozens shot by myself and others." 



Dr. A. Leith Adams, in speaking of Cerchieis tinnunculus, says, " There is little doubt, 

 however, that other closely allied species, such as T. cenchris, may have frequently been mistaken 

 for, or perhaps considered identical with, the sacred bird, and accordingly worshipped and 

 embalmed." 



The Lesser Kestrel visits Southern Africa in winter. Mr. J. H. Gurney writes to us as 

 follows: — "According to Andersson's notes Tinnunculus cenchris appears in Damaraland every 

 rainy season, in company with Erythropus vespertinus and Milvus migrans, but in much smaller 



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