Domestic Instincts of Birds. 403 



time, during which the couple exchange many tender sounds. 

 It is only after the female is duly provided for, that the male 

 thinks about satisfying his own appetite ; and this having been 

 done, he perches on the pinnacle of an old tower, or a neigh- 

 bouring tree, to keep watch over the female. He afterwards 

 contributes his due share in rearing the young, to which he 

 gives the food previously prepared in his craw. There is no 

 eyrie where there is more bustle than about that of the kestril. 



As to the nests of the Falco Subbuteo and Falco Nisus, they 

 are commonly visited by the parents only at intervals of two 

 hours. With the kestrel the case is quite different. When 

 the young are nearly fledged, we may see one or the other of 

 the parents arriving every quarter of an hour. Their young 

 are also much more clamorous than those of other birds of 

 prey. It is true, however, that the prey which is carried to 

 them each time, is of small size, mice being generally the 

 largest animals they catch ; they often obtain much smaller 

 prey, as lizards, and the old ones will take the trouble to fly 

 to the nest with no more than a grasshopper, or a caterpillar 

 of the Sphinx Euphorbia : they are therefore constantly go- 

 ing backwards and forwards. On the other hand, when the 

 young have left the nest, they require much less care than 

 those of the Falco Subbuteo or F. Nisus. 



In 1835, I shot a pair of the Falco Tinnunculus near their 

 eyrie, and then sent up a man to take the young. They were 

 however so full-fledged, that they flew away, and could not 

 be caught. The next day I went to the spot, with a full con- 

 viction that I should be able to find them by their calling for 

 food ; but I could neither hear nor see them, though a herds- 

 man had observed them in the thick underwood : they were 

 afterwards seen high in the air. It may therefore be taken 

 for granted that they had subsisted on insects &c, and train- 

 ed themselves to hunting by their own unassisted exertions, 

 which is the only example of the sort I know of; consequent- 

 ly their male parent, if he had lived, would have had very lit- 

 tle trouble in instructing them. In the common course of 

 things, however, the male, either alone or with the female, 

 brings them out with great care, and whilst they are flying 

 about, he is usually perched on the top of a tree, to guard 

 them from danger, warning them, when he sees anything sus- 

 picious, by crying glee, glee, glee, upon which the whole fa- 

 mily betake themselves to some safer spot. 



We know nothing about the breeding of the Falco erythro- 

 pus, except what my friend Mr. Petenye, in Hungary, has 

 communicated to me, viz., that it constructs its nest in hol- 

 low trees, or avails itself of old magpies' nests, and that its 



