Kestrel 195 



including nestlings and fully-fledged young, dissection proved 

 twenty-live to be game-stealers, while thirty-four escaped with a 

 verdict of " not proven." That is the practical fact that concerns 

 game-preservers, but it does something less than justice to the 

 Kestrel. 



llir Kestrel's occasional practice of taking young game-birds 

 off the rearing-field is, in m\- opinion, a recently-acquired habit, 

 depending on the highl}- artihcial condition under whicn game is 

 reared to-day in these great shooting-preserves. I do not believe 

 that a hundred years ago a single Kestrel could have been found 

 destroying wild game-chicks. In Scotland, the west coast of Argyle- 

 shire, for instance, the Kestrel is quite as common as it is in the 

 south. Here the chicks of the wild Pheasant, Cirouse or Black- 

 game are at their disposal in some numbers through the breeding 

 season, if they care to seek them out. But I know of no instance of 

 a game-bird being taken. There they are perfectly free from this vice, 

 and from the amount of rodents they destroy throughout the year, 

 are highly beneficial to the farmer and landowner. Very few Scotch 

 keepers ever think of destro^•ing Kestrels, and they are protected 

 all the year round by most of the Count}- Councils under the Wild 

 Birds' Protection Act. 



What then is the cause of this difference in habit between the 

 Northern and Southern Kestrel ? It is not ver\' far to seek. It 

 is entirely due to the intensive hand-rearing of game, and a certain 

 sequence of events which follow these artificial conditions. 



A field is chosen with a warm, dry aspect, probably lying close 

 to one of the big woods which are the home of both Kestrel and 

 Sparrow-Hawk. Two hundred to three hundred coops are put 

 down, and each hen starts with, let us say, fifteen Pheasant chickens. 

 We have, then, on this small area of ground, some two or three 

 thousand chickens or more. The keeper feeds frequently and 

 liberalh', much is eaten and much is wasted. The wasted surplus 

 attracts all kinds of rodents, from the common brown rat down- 

 wards. Then the Kestrel appears, hovering over the field, hunting, 

 in the first place, for his legitimate prey — a small rat, a field-mouse 

 or some other rodent. It is rather like the house that Jack built, 

 the keeper's corn attracts the rodents, and the rodents attract the 

 Kestrel, and so far no harm is done. Then one day, when his luck 

 with the young mice is out, he snatches a young Pheasant, eats it 

 or takes it home to his family. Facilis descensus ! From that hour 

 he gives up the old laborious but honest hunting for a living, and 

 becomes a common thief, taking the chicks off the rearing field all 

 day long. There is the mother at home and five hungry chicks ; 

 here is an inexhaustible supply of good food. On this the family 

 subsists with little variation. After a week or ten days, if the weather 

 be warm and dr}-, the young Hawks can be left to themselves for 

 many hours of daylight, while the hen bird joins the cock at the coop, 

 and a double toll of game-birds is taken. 



