CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 277 



The proprietor Ynys Faig Hotel also writes me 

 that he quite endorses what Colonel L. has written, 

 and further adds : " I saw the bird myself carry off 

 young Pheasants, I am also certain they play 

 'old Harry' with the young- Partridges in the breeding- 

 season." I now propose to give the testimony 

 of Mr. Alexander Stewart, head-keeper, residing at 

 Ach-na-Cloich, Argyleshire, a man with whom I 

 have been out in the field on several occasions, and 

 on whose statement I place the most implicit 

 reliance. As Mr. A. Stewart is in the habit of rearing 

 hundreds of Pheasants for his master, Mr. N., every 

 year, he is quite in a position to speak with 

 authority. This is what he writes me : " With 

 regard to the habits of the Kestrel I may state that 

 they feed chiefly on mice and small birds. They 

 are very troublesome in the rearing field, as I 

 have seen them take young Pheasants, and I have 

 shot them with young Pheasants in their claws. We 

 destroy all the birds and nests we come across as 

 they are also very destructive on the Grouse moor." 

 I will conclude these remarks by stating the opinion 

 of Mr. James McKintyre, head-keeper over the 

 Duke of Argyle's property in the Island of Mull 

 He writes as follows : " You are perfectly right in 

 regard to the Kestrel Hawk doino^ damage. I can 

 prove it ; not at all once or twice I found young 

 Pheasants in her nest, also young Grouse and Black 

 Game. There are lots of ignorant people that tell 

 you the Buzzard Hawk does not kill game. Its just 

 as well for them to say that neither the Peregrine 



