dark brownish-red or orange, and sometimes with blotches of *
the same upon a pale reddish or white ground. They vary I
in size more than those of the Merlin, which they otherwise I
much resemble, and measure from l -42 to 1-67 by 1-36 to f
1-2 in. The young are hatched about the end of April or
beginning of May, and are clothed with a yellowish-white I
down.
The Kestrel is too common in these islands to render I
necessary an enumeration of the counties in which it breeds.
In the south, and perhaps in other parts of England, its
numbers receive an increase in autumn, supplied doubtless I
from the north, and there are districts in which it is either |
wholly unknown or but seldom seen in winter, so that in
Britain it partially migrates, while in many other countries [
it does so unmistakably. I t is a bird of very wide distribution,
and as Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser remark, “ ranges I
over the entire Palsearctic Region, being found throughout
Europe and Siberia, visiting India in the winter, and also
migrating, but apparently in more limited numbers, to
Africa.” I t must be said, however, that the Kestrel does
not occur in Iceland, and has only once, according to Herr
H. C. Muller, been taken in the Fieroes. Its precise
northern limit in Europe is perhaps doubtful; but, though
it was found breeding near Tromso in Norway by Professor
Lilljeborg, and by Wolley in Finland, at about 68° N. lat.,
there seems to be no proof of its reaching, as has been
stated, the North Cape, and it was never observed in East !
Finmark by Pastor Sommerfelt during his nine years’ residence.
With regard to its range in Siberia, Herr Radde
says that he found it common only as far as Omsk, beyond
which it was very seldom seen. Still Kestrels occur much
further to the eastward, though whether they are identical
with the true Falco tinnunculus, or belong to the darker form,
which, from its inhabiting Japan, has been separated as a
variety under the name of japonicus, remains uncertain. In
China, it would seem, from Mr. Swinlioe’s researches, that
both forms occur. Some examples from Burmah, India,
and Ceylon, in Lord Walden’s collection, are, according to
KESTREL. 8 L
the painstaking authors of the ‘Birds of Europe,’ before
quoted, indistinguishable from those killed in Britain, while
others again are much paler in colour. Returning towards the
west, Eversmann observed it in Bokhara, and, though not
noticed by De Filippi in Persia, it is said by Menetries to
extend to the frontiers of that country, while it is common
in the Caucasus, occurring even at the height of six thousand
feet. In Palestine, too, it is abundant, breeding, according to
Canon Tristram, in very many localities, and generally some
twenty to thirty in the same spot. In the northern part of
East Africa it is resident, but vast flocks arrive in autumn and
pass to the southward to Arabia, Abyssinia, and the Soudan,
returning again when winter is past. Mr. Gurney received
a specimen said to have come from the Seychelles, but it is
certainly not a common bird in those islands, which possess
a species peculiar to themselves, the Falco or Tinnunculus
gracilis. Dr. von Heuglin observes, that the Kestrels which
remain in North-east Africa are generally more brightly
coloured than European examples, with larger and blacker
spots, and that the head of the hen is darker reddish-grey,
and the band on the tail broader; and Professor Sundevall
makes much the same remark. The most southern limit
of the Common Kestrel would seem to be the latitude of the
Cape of Good Hope, whence a young male, caught on board
ship, is contained in the Leyden Museum. Andersson sent
a single example from Damaraland; Mr. Sharpe has received
it from the Fantee-country, in West Africa; and it
also occurs in Senegambia. In the Cape Verde Islands and
the Canaries it is common and resident, as it also is in the
Azores and Madeira; but examples from the last locality are
remarkable for their dark colour. I t is also abundant in
Morocco and Algeria, and, according to the late Mr. Cham-
bers-Hodgetts, in Tripoli.
About a dozen other species of Kestrel are known, some
of which have a curiously restricted range, as that of the
Seychelles, before mentioned ; that of Mauritius, Falco pane-
tutus; and that of Cuba, F. sparverioides; while others have
a wider distribution, and the so-called “ American Sparrow