52 BEITISH BIRDS. 



and Palestine. It is occasionally found in North France and North 

 Germany ; but these examples are rare stragglers out of the usual line of 

 migration. It passes through the whole of North Africa, where a con- 

 siderable number remain to breed. It winters in South Africa, having 

 been found in Damara Land, the Transvaal, and the Cape. In the east it 

 is represented by a very nearly allied species, F. pekinensis, which breeds 

 in China and winters ia India, where a few are said to remain m the 

 mountains during the breeding-season. 



The Lesser Kestrel is a very gregarious bird, seldom found in isolated 

 pairs. It is very partial to rocks and ruins ; and I have seen them m great 

 numbers flying in and out of the holes of the ruins of the Acropolis at 

 Athens. In the villages of the Parnassus and in Asia Minor, for want of 

 more suitable places, it breeds under the eaves of the houses; and I 

 particularly remember a colony in a street in Missolonghi. Dr. Kriiper 

 says that he has found the nest in hollow trees ; and I have frequently 

 seen it perched in a tree. In and around the village of Menemen, not 

 far from Smyrna, it was especially abundant, and we generally saw half a 

 dozen on the wing together. We shot one out of three perched on the 

 branches of an old olive-tree in the middle of the village ; and once in the 

 Parnassus we shot several birds which were flying about in the company 

 of the Common Kestrel. The Lesser Kestrel is a migratory bird, arriving 

 at its breeding- quarters about the middle of March. It breeds towards 

 the end of April ; and I found several nests late in June containing young 

 birds. Some of these were under the eaves of the houses, and others in 

 holes of the walls. The nests were extremely slight; and frequently the 

 eggs were laid in a hollow scratched in the rubbish. Five seems to be the 

 usual number of eggs; but I have clutches of four, and one of seven. The 

 male bird ajjpears to relieve the female in her duties, as on a nest which 

 we took, containing five eggs, on the 15th of May in a village in the 

 Parnassus, we caught the male and afterwards shot the female. The food 

 of this bird during the breeding-season appears to be almost entirely com- 

 posed of grasshoppers ; and we often saw flocks or small parties flying up 

 and down in the vicinity of their nests not at all disturbed by our watching 

 them. We could see them thrust out their feet to catch the flying grass- 

 hoppers, and could notice them bring their feet to the bill, after which 

 the hard parts of the grasshopper were distinctly seen to fall to the ground. 

 They are very noisy on the wing ; and their cry is very j)eeuliar : Dr. 

 Kriiper pointed out to me its resemblance to the Greek word /3e;3atw9 

 (pronormced vev-ai'-ose), which may be translated into American-English 

 as " yes, certainly." Canon Tristram mentions their abundance near 

 some of the villages in Palestine, pursuing insects, especially cockchafers, 

 towards evening. He also mentions that he never found a colony of these 

 birds without finding many of the Common Kestrel breeding in the same 



