REPORT ON PLAGUE OF FIELD-VOLES IN SCOTLAND 139 



kestrels are often attracted to pheasant-coops by the presence 

 of rats and mice drawn thither by the food prepared for the 

 young birds. Against this may be set the evidence of the 

 head-keeper at Drumlanrig (where kestrels are preserved by 

 order of the Duke of Buccleuch), who said that in his 

 experience of over thirty years he thought he could remember 

 twice seeing a kestrel taking a young pheasant. 



It will, your Committee feel convinced, be a very 

 gratifying result of the present inquiry if it tends to 

 persuade persons interested in game -preserving that the 

 kestrel preys not so much on game as on the vermin of the 

 farm. 



It may be observed in connection with this question of 

 the kestrel's habits, that it is rare to find people able to 

 distinguish between one kind of hawk and another. Few of 

 the witnesses before your Committee were able to describe 

 hawks otherwise than as red, blue, brown, or yellow, and it 

 was often impossible to make out what species they intended 

 to indicate. It is one of the peculiarities of the Falconida? that 

 their plumage varies according to age and sex. In the 

 southern counties of Scotland the sparrow-hawk (which 

 does not prey on mice) is generally known as the " blue 

 hawk," and the kestrel as the " brown " or " red " hawk. 

 But an immature male sparrow-hawk has reddish-brown 

 plumage, and an adult male kestrel has a bluish-gray head 

 and back. 



Several witnesses deponed to an increase in hawks " since 

 the mice came," but were unable to identify the species. No 

 doubt they were kestrels, for other species of hawks do not 

 commonly prey on mice, and your Committee, in driving back 

 from Howpasly, observed five kestrels together hovering over 

 the vole-haunted ground. . . . 



Buzzards probably destroy large numbers of voles and 

 mice, and are too heavy on the wing to do much injury to 

 winged game ; but they have become very scarce in southern 

 Scotland owing to their destruction by gamekeepers. 



Ravens and hooded crows have also become rare, but this 

 cannot be regretted in the farmer's interest, as they attack 

 young lambs, and even pick the eyes out of the weakly ewes. 

 Moreover the rooks, which it is to be hoped no short-sighted 



