HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE - G O SSIP. 



103 



few of these birds from October to the middle 

 of February. In my opinion, they do migrate 

 wholly to other countries. Coming from the North 

 and joining those in the south of Britain, they 

 assemble, cross the Dover Straits, and, although 

 numbers may stay in the provinces of central France 

 and northern Spain, I have reason to believe that 

 the immense majority cross the Mediterranean along 

 with the numberless birds that periodically do 

 so, to the northern shores of Africa, whence they 

 commence their return during the month of January, 

 arriving in Britain in the course of the succeeding 

 month. The few (and they are but few) exceptions 

 met with during the winter months only tend to prove 

 this, and we must treat their appearances as those of 

 the casual swallows which often appear at unseasonable 

 periods. 



Food. — As I have before said, this bird is not so 

 destructive to poultry or game as is the sparrow- 

 hawk. It is also a much more sociable bird, and is 

 more frequently seen near the habitations of man than 

 the former. Its food consists of the smaller mam- 

 malia, such as rats and mice, also beetles and other 

 destructive insects. Charles Waterton says that it 

 consists "almost entirely of mice." For the vermin 

 this bird destroys, its life should not be sacrificed as 

 it is by gamekeepers, who, almost without excep- 

 tion, seem to have the most ungovernable aversion 

 to all kinds of hawks. A great observer of the 

 economy of birds, Mr. Booth, says, "The rats 

 alone which these birds destroy while procuring food 

 for their young would commit more, ten times more, 

 damage in one year than a pair of Kestrels could in 

 their joint lives." The Windhover does, indeed, 

 occasionally have a change in its diet in the shape of 

 a small or unfledged bird, and, as sure as it does so, 

 it is either caught or seen "red-handed" by the 

 keeper, who, having seen its partiality to birds, 

 firmly believes that all its food consists of such, and, 

 acting on this illusory belief, he exterminates this 

 really useful little hawk and points out with evident 

 satisfaction the ominous row of Kestrels suspended in 

 a conspicuous position in his "museum." * 



Mice are swallowed whole, the indigestible parts 

 being afterwards cast up in the form of pellets. 

 Insects are dexterously caught while on the wing, 

 being clutched with either foot and adroitly conveyed 

 to the mouth without at all impeding the flight. 



Representation in other Countries. — 

 Though not found in Australia, the Kestrel's place 

 is well supplied by the Nankeen Kestrel ( Tinnwicu- 

 lits ccnchroides, Gould). As before mentioned, the 

 Kestrel's flight is very buoyant, but what must that of 



* I notice in the Zoologist for April a remarkable instance 

 of this. On p. 120 of that periodical Mr. W. A. Durnford, 

 writing from the Lake district, says : " A kestrel rose from 

 the embankment within a few yards of me, with a large object 

 in its claws. ... It dropped its prey, which on examination 

 proved to be a full-fledged young cuckoo, dead, though still 

 warm." 



its Antipodean representative be, of which Gould says, 

 "The flight of the Nankeen Kestrel differs from that of 

 its European ally in being more buoyant and easy " ? 

 In North America this bird is partially represented 

 by the American Sparrowhawk, which partakes of the 

 character of both the Kestrel and the Sparrowhawk. 



Distribution. — It is the commonest of the 

 Falconida? which frequent our isles. Charles Water- 

 ton had numerous Kestrels in his park ; he, himself, 

 visited in 1835 no less than twenty-four nests, all 

 having Kestrels' eggs in them. I have never since 

 heard or read of so many being found in so small a 

 space, but, of course, he had them strictly preserved. 

 Around Sheffield its nest is not found as frequently as 

 that of the Sparrowhawk, although I have seen the 

 bird oftener. In many parts of Lincolnshire it is 

 also very common. It is very frequent in Scotland, 

 breeding mostly on the precipitous and craggy rocks 

 which fringe its shores. In Ireland, Mr. Thompson 

 says, "It is common and indigenous to suitable 

 localities throughout the island." It is found in most 

 European countries, even as far north as Lapland, 

 where "Old Bushman," in his trip up there in 1862, 

 procured specimens of both skins and eggs of this 

 bird. Specimens of it have also been sent from all 

 portions of Asia and Africa. 



Nidification. —One cannot fail to be struck by 

 the facility with which the " Standgale " adapts itself 

 to places of nidification. In sylvan localities it 

 constructs its nest mostly on a tree, but if the spot 

 chosen be a wild, mountainous, but picturesque 

 district, either on the coast or in the interior, it will 

 be placed in some crevice in the rock. Sometimes 

 the nest is placed in the interstices of a dilapidated 

 old barn, or, perhaps, it is situated in a church tower. 

 The rough and hastily-composed structure which 

 serves for a nest is quite adapted to the contiguous 

 wildness. The "Stannelhawk " is but too glad to 

 avail itself of the deserted nest of any of the Cor- 

 vid<z family ; that of the Magpie (C. pica) or the Car- 

 rion Crow (C. corrone) being generally chosen. If 

 the country be favourable, the nest is placed on some 

 precipitous "scar," from which the Kestrel may have 

 a view of both his enemies (should any ever assail 

 him) and his prey. 



Dovedale, in Derbyshire, is noted for the number 

 of Kestrels which frequent and nidificate on the rock 

 surrounding. The bird does sometimes build itself a 

 nest : it is composed of sticks outwardly, the inner 

 portion of twigs lined with, perhaps, a little moss, a 

 few dead leaves, or, maybe, a little wool, often no 

 lining at all beyond the twigs, and is erected at the 

 commencement of April. 



The eggs, which are laid from the middle of April 

 to the end of May, are four or five in number ; very 

 beautiful in appearance. They are of a pale reddish- 

 brown ground colour, marbled and mottled all over 

 with a darker red. In some varieties, the ground- 

 colour is of a white, delicately suffused with a faint 



