ACCIPITRES. 
FALCONID/E. 
FALCONINJS. 
Genus CERCHNEIS. 
Bill shorter and more suddenly curved than in Falco ; wings as in that genus, but the 1st 
quill shorter, and the 1st and 2nd notched on the inner web. Tail longer than in the last; tarsi 
longer and more feeble. Lateral toes nearly equal, the scales rectangular up to the base of 
the toes. 
Of small size. Sexes generally differing in coloration. Sternum weaker than in Falco. 
CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULUS, 
(THE COMMON KESTREL.) 
Falco tinnunculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 127 (1766); Gould, B. of Europe, i. pi. 26 (1837); 
Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 52 (1843) ; Schl. Yog. Nederl. pis. 9, 10 (1854); Sharpe & Dresser, 
B. of Eur. pt. 2 (1871) ; Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. p. 79 (1872). 
Falco alaudarius , Gm. S. N. i. p. 279 (1788). 
Cerchneis tinnuncula, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 314; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 425 (1874); David 
& Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 36 (1877). 
Tinnunculus alaudarius. Gray, Gen. Birds, i. p. 21 (1844) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. no. 69, 
p. 15 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 115 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 
1853, xii. p. 102; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 13 (1854); Gould, B. 
Gt. Brit. pt. ii. (1862) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 38 (1862) ; Tristram, Ibis, 1865, p. 259 ; 
Hume, Bough Notes, i. p. 96 (1869); Iioldsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 410; Du Cane 
Godman, Ibis, 1872, p. 165; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 21 (1873); Legge, Ibis, 1874, 
p. 10 ; Scully, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 120 ; Brooks, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 228. 
Cerchneis alaudarius, Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 460. 
IJEpervier des Alouettes, Briss. Orn. i. p. 279 (1760). 
La Cresserelle, Briss. Orn. i. p. 393 (1760). 
“ Windhover ,” “ Stonegall,” popularly in England ; Cernicalo, Primilla, Spanish (Saunders) ; 
Francilho, Portuguese ; Sweef, Moorish (Drake) ; Narzi (female), Narzanak (male), Hind. 
(Jerdon) ; Khurmutia, Rurumtia , Karontia, Hind. (Blyth) ; Nardunak, Scinde ; Gytthin , 
Tondala-muchi gedda, lit. “Lizard-killing Kite,”Tel. (Jerd.); Kurganak, Turkestan (Scully). 
Ukussa, Kumllagoya, Sinhalese ; Walluru, Ceylonese Tamils. 
Adult male. Length to front of cere 12-5 to 13-5 inches ; culmen from cere 06 ; wing 06 to 10-2 (9-7 to 9-9 being the 
average); tail 6-5 to 7-0; tarsus 1-4 to 1'6; mid toe 1-05 to 1T5, claw (straight) 0-45; height of bill at cere 0-35. 
In a large series examined in the British Museum I find that Asiatic examples measure as much as, if not more 
than, European, the largest specimen, having a wing of 10-2, being from Behar. 
