ISO 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 1S69. 



fridges are ready to fly, Kestrels are strong on the 

 wing, and for every pair seen in spring, were it not 

 for traps and guns, we may expect to find six or 

 seven birds in autumn, for this species usually lays 

 five eggs. But perhaps the best reason is that the 

 Kestrel is migratory in its habits. The old birds 

 move northwards in spring, and return southwards 

 in autumn, when their numbers are reinforced by 

 the young which have been hatched in the mean- 

 time; so that we see not only those which have 

 spent the summer in our own neighbourhood, but 



In this good work they are joined by the Owls, 

 particularly the Barn-owl {St rix flammed) ; and if 

 there were no other reason for preserving these 

 birds, this alone, one would think, should suffice. 



The adult male Kestrel is characterized by his 

 slaty-blue head and tail, and more intensely rufous 

 back. The female is more sombre in appearance 

 and more spotted, and never assumes the slaty-blue 

 colour above referred to. They pair early in the 

 year, and generally take possession of an old crow's 

 nest, which they repair and sometimes re-lins. 



Pig. 131. The Kestrel, male and female. 



numbers which have come from a distance, and 

 which are passing onwards, huntiug for food by the 

 way. 



It is worthy of remark that at the season when 

 Kestrels are most numerous, the hay is stacked and 

 the corn carried. Consequently, the long-tailed 

 field-mouse {Mus sylvaticus) and the common 

 meadow-mouse {Arvicola agrestis) are deprived 

 of the friendly cover which has sheltered them 

 throughout the summer, and are more easily espied 

 by the Kestrels, who destroy them in numbers, and 

 thus help to save our crops for the coming year. 



The eggs, usually five in number, vary from a light 

 brick-red or sandy colour to a dark chestnut. This 

 colour is distributed over the surface in small spots 

 or blotches, sometimes so thickly as to obscure the 

 originally white ground-colour of the egg. We 

 have occasionally seen eggs of this species blotched 

 with chestnut at the larger end only, the remainder 

 being pure white, and resembling in this respect 

 eggs of the Sparrow-hawk. They had not, however, 

 that bluish or greenish cast on the inside of the 

 shell which is always apparent on holding an egg 

 of the Sparrow-hawk up to the light. 



