FALCONIDAE 175 



brown, and chestnut thighs. H. orientcdis of the same countries 

 lacks the red tints, S. novae guineae of New Guinea is less 

 spotted. These three Kestrel-like birds love swampy districts, 

 and devour small mammals, birds, frogs, lizards, newts, insects, 

 and even carrion ; being valuable allies in caterpillar-plagues, but 

 farmyard pests at ordinary times. The nest of sticks, lined with 

 bark or leaves, is placed in trees, the three or four whitish eggs 

 are blotched with reddish-brown. 



The nearly cosmopolitan genus Tinnunculus (Kestrel), so 

 called from its querulous "bell -like" note, is separated from 

 Falco rather by pattern of colour than structural considerations. 

 T. alaudarius, the most plentiful of the British Falconidae — 

 which is occasionally seen in winter near its breeding-quarters, 

 though chiefly a summer immigrant — ranges from the Atlantic 

 Islands and lat. 68° N. in Europe, through Asia to Japan and 

 China, reaching Fantee and Mombasa in Africa, and having been 

 once recorded from Massachusetts in America. The sub-species 

 neglectus, japonicus, and saturatus are darker than the type ; 

 wherein the male is chiefly bluish-grey above, and buff" with black 

 spots and streaks below ; the chestnut back being spotted with 

 black, and the white-tipped tail having a broad subterminal black 

 band. The female has rufous upper parts, with dark bars continued 

 down the tail. The Kestrel or Wind-hover is a shy arboreal bird 

 of somewhat crepuscular tendencies, generally observed circling 

 gracefully aloft in readiness to drop upon its prey, or " hovering " 

 with rapid vibrations of the long wings, the tail expanded and 

 the head to windward. Small mammals and coleoptera furnish 

 most of the food, a few birds — very seldom game — lizards, frogs, 

 worms, grasshoppers, and insect-larvae varying the diet. Its 

 great utility is now generally recognised, while sensible keepers 

 should be fast learning that all Hawks and Owls are not 

 " vermin." It rarely builds its own nest, but occupies deserted 

 habitations of Crows, Pies, and other birds, relined sparingly 

 with twigs and grass, or scrapes a cup in the soil of some ledge 

 or cavity of a cliff. At times hollow trees, ruins, and chalk-pits 

 are chosen, or even level ground in the fens — pellets of bones, 

 feathers, fur, and beetles' elytra commonly marking the spot. The 

 four to six eggs are creamy-white, blotched or thickly mottled 

 with bright or dull red. T. cenchris, the Lesser Kestrel, with white 

 claws, and unspotted back in the male, has four or five times 



