223 
Wing ad. 190-203 mm., tail 127-152 mm. ; 
head slaty, crown usually rufous; above 
rufous, more or less barred with black 
(according to age) ; tail with subterminal 
band of black and white tips; outer 
feathers more or less white, with one or 
more extra partial bands of black on inner 
webs (according to age); below buffish 
white, the chest pale cinnamon fawn, more 
or less finely spotted with black on sides 
of body (according to age). [Specific dis- 
tinctions : crown generally rufous ; chest 
washed with rufous ; sides spotted. ]? 
{*322a. Cerchneis sparverius phalena (Lesson), Western 
Echo du Monde Savant, Ann. 12, June 19, North America 
p- 1086 (1845). [San Blas and Acapulco, from E. Brit. 
Mexico.) Columbia and 
Western Kestrel. W. Montana to 
N.W. Mexico ; 
Slightly smaller ; wing 190, tail 133mm.; in winter S. to 
appreciably paler; tail relatively longer Mexico and 
and paler; wing-coverts less spotted; Guatemala. 
rufous crown patch appreciably larger ; 
below with larger, rounder and more 
numerous black spots; chest cinnamon 
fawn. 
1 Opinions differ greatly as to the specific and subspecific value of the American 
Kestrels, but I think it desirable to give specific rank to the typical race of each 
of the three groups of forms, and I have pointed out the principal characters on which 
I base these species. Some ornithologists appear to me to have failed to grasp 
the most important factors in determining the subspecies of these groups of forms, 
and to have attached undue importance to tail markings and the spotting of under 
parts, characters which vary with maturity and require to be considered with 
great caution. The spotting below is common to the less mature birds of all three 
groups, but disappears with age entirely in the tsabellinus group and varies in the 
other two, while the rufous on crown is likewise common to all three when immature, 
but disappears in the isabellinus and cinnamominus groups, yet it is usually retained 
in the sparverius group. The markings of the outer pair of tail feathers and the 
width of the subterminal tail band are most unreliable characters in themselves, 
as a series of old and young of both sexes in my collection from one district in 
Venezuela shows. 
