THE KESTRELS. 
201 
1 I'alcons, with a tooth in the bill, and i 
central tubercle m the nostril. ’ 
With the exception of some of the more tropical species 
Kestrels are migratory birds, and several of them go south irl 
immense flocks, as has been noticed by many observers n 
tar .,nK, in Africa. They ale prindpaU, i„ 7 ec, 
feeders, and devour large numbers of locusts, in pursuit of 
which their large gatherings often take place. 
r. THE COMMON KESTREL. CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULUS. 
Linn. Syst. Nat i. p. 393 (1766); Macg. 
(‘^40) j Dresser, B. Eur. vi p n- 
pi 384 (1871); Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit B. i. p. yn (xSyi)’ 
Seebohm, Brit. B i. p. 45 (1883); Saunders, Man. Brh 
D'lrt xvi. 
Cerchnm^tmnunculus (L.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit Mus. i. p. 425 
Tinmmcidus alaudarius, B. O. U. List Brit B. p. 104 (1883). 
(Plate LI.) 
Adult Male.— General colour above rufous fawn-colour or pale 
chestnut, with a few arrow-head shaped marks of black plainer 
on the inner secondaries; primary-coverts and quills dark 
brown, the former narrowly margined with rufous, the pi LaS 
notched with white for about two-thirds of their length the 
inner primaries and outer secondaries narrowly edged ’and 
tipped wi h buffy-white ; head and neck clear slLy-W^ie w^h 
narrow black shaft-stripes; forehead buffy-white/ as also a 
silvery-grey, inclining to blackish 
fnfp fore-part of the cheeks, formino- a 
tolerably distinct moustache; lower back, rump, upper mil 
coverts, and tail clear slaty-blue, the latte^ tipped 3 white' 
before which IS a broad sub-terminal band of black • throat 
buff, not spotted ; remainder of under surfoce of body rufous 
fawn-colour, the chest-feathers mesially streaked vith black 
these black centres being larger and more oval in shape on the 
flank-feathem; thighs dear rufous, unspotted; i.i3r wing 
coverts white, spotted with black ; bill bluish horTcolour 
black at the tip, yellowish at the base ; cere, orbits, and fee^ 
