278 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



Falcon nor the Sparrow Hawk is not destructive to 

 game as to say the Kestrel or Buzzard does not 

 damage game, because they all do." The practical 

 experience of two head -keepers over large estates, 

 reliable in every way — as I know them to be from 

 personal acquaintance — speaking with the authority 

 that the position they hold enables them to do — this 

 fact coupled with such support as that of a retired 

 Colonel, who himself has been in the habit of rearing 

 Pheasants, is, I think, amply sufficient to dispel any 

 erroneous idea entertained by some ornithological 

 writers in regard to this particular Hawk, and it is 

 for this reason I have taken the trouble to collect 

 the data herein afforded, my object being to present 

 facts to my readers — not suppositions. 



To anyone making a practical study of the different 

 characteristics of birds in the field, I think the one 

 that would probably strike him most in reference to 

 this species is its habit of hovering over its prey. 

 At such times the Kestrel appears to be perfectly 

 motionless, and this seems to be maintained often 

 when the wind is hieh. 



Mr. Pycraft says : "In hovering the wings are 

 driven at an enormous speed, yet the bird remains 

 poised over a given spot. In our common Kestrel 

 Hawk we have a superb exponent of this fact." Mr. 

 W. H. Hudson remarks: "When thus hovering 

 motionless the wings are seen to beat rapidly for a 

 few seconds, then to become fixed and rigid for a 

 moment or two, after which the beating motion is 

 renewed." From these two descriptions it is evident 



