204 
ALLEN’S naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
bourhood, never attempting to molest the game. Underlying 
the apparently mild demeanour of the ordinary Kestrel reigns 
undoubtedly the fierce nature of the B’rd of Prey, and I 
remember that on one occasion when I lift my four Kestrels 
for a day in charge of a servant who, of course, forgot to feed 
them, as servants generally do, 1 returned to find only three 
alive in the cage. Recognising the fact that they were f irgotten 
and unprovided vvith food, the three female birds set upon their 
smaller brother and ate him. 
Nest — As a rule, the Kestrel selects the old nest of a Crow 
or Raven, or it may be the old domicile of a Magpie or 
Pigeon. Mr. Seebohra says that the original owner’s nest is 
sometimes repaired by the Hawks, but in the many nests 
which I have taken in the south of England I have never seen 
any evidence of this, and that the Kestrel is not much of a 
nest-builder is proved by the fact that when the bird breeds in 
a cliff, it makes no attempt at a nest, 
Eggs, — From three to five, or even six or seven in number. 
The ground-colour is dull or creamy-white, but is often not 
visible, as the chestnut clouding of the eggs entirely hides it. 
Thus there are two shades of chestnut, as a rule, in the egg of 
the Kestrel, the underlying one almost uniform, and the over- 
lying darker chestnut shade taking the form of spots and irre- 
gular blotches. Every kind of variation is exhibited in a 
series, from brownish-red to dark chestnut, almost blackish. 
In others the pale colouring is confined to one end of the egg, 
and the dark colour to the other end, and the variation in 
intensity of colour and markings is extreme. In rare instances 
the whitish ground-colour is predominant, and the spots and 
blotches of rufous are so arranged that the eggs look not unlike 
certain forms of those of the Sparrow-Hawk. Axis, i •45-1 7 
inch; diam., i’2-i’3. 
II. THE LESSER KESTREL. CERCHNEIS CENCHRIS. 
Falco cenchris, Naum. Vog. Ueutschl. i, p. 31S (1822) ; Newton, 
ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 82 (1871) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 
125, pi. 385(1871); Seebohm, Brit. B. i. p. 51 (1883); 
Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 345 (1889) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. 
Brit. B. part xxii. (1892). 
