202. CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULUS (Linnæus).
KESTREL.
- Falco tinnunculus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 90.
- Cerchneis tinnuncula Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 425.
- Cerchneis tinnunculus Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 276; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 308; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 45.
Luzon (Whitehead); Palawan (White). Europe and northern Asia; in winter, Africa and the Indian Peninsula.
“Adult male.—Upper parts brick-red, with a few arrow-head markings of black, larger on the inner secondaries; primary-coverts and quills dark brown, the former narrowly margined with rufous, the primaries notched with white for about two-thirds of their length, the inner primaries and outer secondaries narrowly edged and tipped with buffy white; head and neck clear blue-gray, with narrow black shaft-stripes; forehead and narrow eyebrow buffy white; cheeks silvery gray, inclining to blackish below the eye and on the fore part of cheeks, forming a tolerably distinct moustache; lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail clear blue-gray, the latter tipped with ashy white, before which is a broad subterminal band of black; throat and under tail-coverts buff, unspotted; remainder of under surface rufous-fawn; the chest-feathers mesially streaked with black, these dark centers being larger and more oval in shape on flank-feathers; thighs clear rufous unspotted; under wing-coverts white, spotted with black. Bill bluish horn-color, black at tip, yellowish at base; cere, orbits, and feet yellow; iris brown. Length, 317; culmen, 44; wing, 234; tail, 170; tarsus, 41.
“Adult female.—Similar to the male underneath but not so deeply colored. Upper surface entirely rufous, banded with black, with a faint bluish shade on the rump; upper tail-coverts inclining to buff; head rufous, streaked with black; tail rufous, banded with black, the bars not being strictly continuous, tipped with buffy white, before which is a conspicuous broad band of black; facial features and soft parts as in the male. Length, 317; culmen, 19; wing, 234; tail, 165; tarsus, 41.
“Young male.—Resembling the old female but rather paler and more distinctly striped on the breast. The tail first changes, becoming blue like that of the old male; and thus birds are often seen in partial plumage, having the blue tail of the adult male, but retaining the rufous head of the old female dress.” (Sharpe.)
Suborder PANDIONES.
This suborder with a single family of two genera is distinguished from the suborder Accipitres by having the outer toe reversible; in addition to this the claws are very greatly curved and the under side of each claw is rounded instead of being grooved or concave as in the hawks and eagles.