246 KESTREL. Class II. 



we so frequently see in the air fixed in one 

 place, and as it were fanning it with its wings ; 

 at which time it is watching for its prey. It 

 flings up the indigested fur and feathers in form 

 of a round ball. While falconry was in use in 

 Great Britain, this kind was trained for catch- 

 ing small birds and young partridges. 



A few winter in Italy ; the greater part mi- 

 grate in September. 



Dr. Latham in the second volume p. 44. of 

 the supplement to his Synopsis of birds, de- 

 scribes a Kestrel, shot in Surrey, which varied 

 in color from the common sort. Its length was 

 fourteen inches ; the bill pale with a black tip : 

 cere and legs yellow ; the forehead over the nos- 

 trils white ; the head grey, streaked with black, 

 under the eye a black mark like a whisker ; the 

 back of a rufous brick color, with a spot of black 

 at the tip of each feather ; the rump pale ash ; 

 all the under parts of the body of a pale rufous 

 white, streaked with black down the shafts ; the 

 thighs the same, with an occasional spot of 

 black ; the chin and vent nearly white ; the 

 wing coverts crossed with black bars ; the quil 

 duskv, barred within with reddish white : the 

 tail of a pale rufous ash-color, barred on each 

 side the shafts with black, those on the inner 

 webs most complete, and all the feathers marked 



