LESSER KESTREL. 49 



mountain town Bagneres-de-Bigorre. In France it is a 

 summer visitor only. 



The Lesser Kestrel nests among old ruins, or in the 

 crevices of mountain rocks, particularly according to 

 Temminck, in Sicily, and in the neighbourhood of 

 Gibraltar. 



Its eggs, according to Degland, are three or four in 

 number; very short, smaller than those of the Kestrel; 

 of a reddish white, with a great number of little points 

 and "fly spots" of a brick red, mingled together and 

 mixed with small brown spots. 



It has the same habits as the Kestrel; lives upon 

 coleoptera, grasshoppers, and small reptiles, rarely upon 

 small birds. 



The following description is from M. Temminck: — 

 Adult male; summit of the head, sides, and nape, of a 

 light ash-colour, without spots; back, scapulars, and the 

 greater part of the wing coverts of a brick red, dark, 

 without any spots; some of the large wing coverts, the 

 secondaries, the rump, and nearly all the tail of a 

 bluish ash; a large black band at the end of the tail 

 feathers, which are tipped with white; throat light; the 

 other under parts of a clear reddish russet, studded with 

 small spots and longitudinal black streaks. Feet, claws, 

 cere, and eyelids, yellow; beak bluish. 



The old female is rather larger; she so nearly 

 resembles in the colour of her plumage the female 

 of the Kestrel, that it is impossible to distinguish them 

 in a description; they would however, be known from 

 each other at the first glance; first, by the very small 

 size, and, secondly, by the length of the quill feathers, 

 which reach to the end of the tail. 



The young males of the year differ but slightly from 

 the old female. 



voi,. i. H 



