I may mention that the female of this species so closely
resembles the Common Kestrel that I do not consider
it necessary to give a representation of her, the only
constant differences between females of these two species
being the smaller size and the white claws of the present
bird. The Lesser Kestrel abounds in Andalucia, and
is also common in many districts of Central Spain;
in general habits, flight, and cry it is barely to be distinguished
from the larger species, but it is perhaps more
exclusively insectivorous than the Common Kestrel, and
rarely, in my experience, nests in trees. It is of course
difficult to compute the numerical proportion of two very
similar species when seen in the air together, but I am
disposed to consider the Lesser Kestrel as more abundant
in Andalucia during the summer months than its larger
congener.
My kindly readers will, I trust, pardon me for summing
up my remarks on the Little Kestrel by quoting
from my own “ Notes on the Ornithology of Spain ”
published in the ‘ Ibis ’ for 1865 :—“ The two species of
Kestrel are, I think, in April and May, the commonest
birds in Andalucia, with perhaps the exception of the
Bee-eater. Every church-steeple, belfry, and tower,
every town and village, every ruin swarms with them; I
believe I am not at all beyond the mark in saying that
I have seen three or four hundred on wing at the same
moment on more than one occasion, notably at Castro
del Rio in April 1864. Both species of Kestrel continue
on wing long after dark.” I would amend the last
sentence by substituting the word sunset for “ dark.”
The eggs of this species are of a lighter colour than the
average productions of the Common Kestrel, and,
naturally, considerably smaller; they are generally laid
in holes of stone- or brick-work without any attempt at
a nest, and I have several times found them within reach
from the ground without any necessity for climbing to
obtain them. A few Little Kestrels remain in Southern
Spain through the winter months, but the great majority
arrive in February or early in March, and leave the
country about the end of September. The principal food
of the Lesser Kestrel consists of beetles, locusts, and
grasshoppers; to the best of my belief their prey is
invariably taken on the ground.