Fatcons. RAPACES. FALCO. 43 
« Kestrel.—Falco Tinnunculus, (Linn.) 
PLATES 17%. and 17 *. 
Falco Tinnunculus, Lath. Ind. Ornith. |. p. 41. t. 98.—Gmel. Syst. I. 
p- 278. 16.—Raii, Syn. Pl. 16. 16.—Will. p. 50. t. 5.—Meyer, Tasschenb. 1. 
. 62. 
Faleo Tinnunculus alaudarius, Gmel. p. 279. 
Accipiter alaudarius, Briss. 1. p. 379. 22. 
La Cresserelle, Buff: Ois. v. 1. p. 379.—Id. Pl. Enl. 401. old male, and 471. 
the young of the year. 
Faucon Cresserelle, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 1. p. 29. 
Turm-falke, Bechst., Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 37. 
Kestrel, Stannel, or Windhover, Will. (Ang.) p. 84. t. 5. 
Kestrel, Br. Zool. 1. No. 60.—J®. fol. p. 68. t. A. Arct. Zool. 2. p. 226. N. 
Lath. Syn. 1. p. 94. 79.—Id. Supp. p. 25.—Lewin’s Br. Birds, 1. t. 19. 
Mand. F'.—Mont. Ornith. Dict.— Wale. Syn. 1. t. 19.—Pult. Cat. Dor- 
set, p. 3.—Low’s Fau. Orcad. p. 37.—Don, Br. Birds, 3. t. 51.—Shaw’s 
Zool. v. 7. p- 179.—-Haye’s Br. Birds, t. 4.—Bewick’s Br. Birds, 1. p. 38. 
and 40. Mand. F. 
Provincial, Kastril, Stonegall. 
This well known species is distmguished, not only by the 
symmetry of its form and its elegant plumage, but by the pe- 
culiar gracefulness of its flight, and the manner in which it Flight. 
frequently remains suspended in the air, fixed, as it were, to 
one spot, by a quivering play of the wings, scarcely percep- 
tible. It is one of our commonest indigenous species, and is 
widely spread through the kingdom. Upon the approach of 
spring (or the period of incubation), it resorts to rocks and 
high cliffs. 
The nest consists of a few sticks loosely put together, and Nest, &c. 
sometimes lined with a little hay or wool; and is placed in 
some crevice, or on a projecting shelf. I have known it, un- 
der the failure of more favourable situations, to breed in the 
deserted nest of a magpie or crow. 
The eggs are from four to six in number, of a reddish- 
brown colour, with darker blotches and variegations.—lIt Food. 
preys upon the different species of mice, which it hunts for 
from the elevated station at which it usually soars, and upon 
which it pounces with the rapidity of an arrow. The cast- 
ings of a nest of young kestrels that I frequently inspected, 
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