THE KESTRELS. 
205 
Cerchneis nau/nanni, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 435 (1874). 
Tintiuncnlus cenchris, B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 104 (1883). 
Adult Male. — (leneral colour above rich cinnamon-rufous, 
the entire head and hind-neck, lower back, rump, upper tail- 
coverts, and tail blue-grey, the latter tipped with white, and 
crossed with a broad sub-terminal bar of black ; lores and a few 
streaks on the cheeks whitish ; lesser and median wing-coverts 
cinnamon-rufous, like the back, a few of the outer median 
wing-coverts washed with blue-grey ; greater coverts and inner 
secondaries blue-grey, washed with rufous externally, the 
primaries being dark brown ; throat deep buffy-white ; breast 
pale cinnamon or vinous, with a few blackish spots, becoming 
larger on the sides of the body; thighs paler rufous, unspotted; 
abdomen and under tail-coverts yellowish-white ; under wing- 
coverts white, with a few tiny oval spots of black, larger on the 
axillaries ; bill light blue, yellow at base and blackish at the 
tip ; cere, orbits, and feet beautiful j'ellow ; iris dark brown. 
Total length, i2‘5 inches ; culmen, 075 ; wing, p'l ; tail, 6‘o; 
tansus, I '2. 
Adult Female. — Different from the male. Above tawny-rufous, 
transversely barred with blackish-brown, the bars narrower and 
more obscure on the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, 
the latter being washed with grey ; tail rufous, barred with 
black, tipped with whitish, with a broad sub-terminal band of 
black ; head and neck rather paler rufous, the former broadly, 
the latter more narrowly, streaked with blackish shaft-lines; 
primaries dark brown, barred on the inner web with rufous, the 
secondaries coloured like the back, the outer ones narrowly 
margined with white at the tip ; throat, vent, and under tail- 
coverts bufiy-white, without spots ; breast inclining to rufous 
fawn-colour, all the feathers raesially streaked with blackish, 
these stripes being broader on the flanks, and very tiny on the 
thighs, which are also paler rufous. Total length, 12 '5 inches; 
culmen, 07 ; wing, 9-3; tail, s'g ; tarsus, i'2. 
Toung Birds. — At first resemble the old female, but are paler 
and not so strongly marked. The male, in his second season, 
assumes the blue tail by a moult, but the blue head is assumed 
apparently by a change of feather, as I believe is the case with 
the Common Kestrel also. 
