202 
ALT.EN'S NATURAIJST’s LIBRARY. 
yellow; iris brown. Total length, 12-5 inches; culmen, i-y? ■ 
wing, 9-2 ; tail, 67 ; tarsus, i'6. > /o j 
Adult Female — Differs from the male in being rufous above 
banded with black; on the rump a bluish shade, which 
overspreads the tail in very old individuals ; head rufous 
streaked with black ; tail rufous, banded with black, the bands 
not always continuous, the tip buffy-white, with a sub-terminal 
band of black. Total length, 12-5 inches; culmen, 07? • 
wing, 9-2 ; tail, 6-5 ; tarsus, r6. 
Young Birds — In first plumage the young male and female 
are alike, and both resemble the old hen-bird, but are rather 
paler, and have more distinct stripes on the back. The first 
signs of approaching maturity in the young male are seen on 
the rump and tail, which generally change to blue-grey, before 
the grey head is assumed. 
In 1874 Mr C. Bygrave Wharton procured a female Kestrel 
m Hertfordshire, which had a slaty-blue tail like the male 
with black bars, the rump being also slaty-blue. This speci- 
men exemplifies further the fact that I have already noted 
that in very old females of the Birds of Prey there is a ten- 
dency to assume a plumage like that of the males. 
B’estling — Covered with white down. 
Bange in Great Britain.— The Kestrel is found in every county 
throughout Great Britain and Ireland, and nests in the wooded 
districts, as well as in the cliffs of the sea-shore and inland 
mountains. It is in some degree migratory, descending to 
the lower ground from the highlands in winter. A certain 
number also leave the country in the autumn, being found 
on our southern coasts at that season of the year, while an 
influx of Kestrels also takes place from Northern Europe to 
our eastern coasts. ^ 
Eaage outside the British Islands.— The Kestrel is almost uni- 
versally distributed throughout the Paltearctic Re-^ion and 
breeds up to the Arctic Circle. It is a summer migrant to 
Central Europe, where only a few remain during the winter. 
It is said to occur throughout Siberia, but in Eastern Siberia 
and in Japan the Kestrels are larger and darker in colour, 
and it is this dark race, C. jap 07 iicus. which occurs throughout 
