KE STEEL 303 



skill and head, over which latter lie was neatly turning 

 the skin to finish. The eyes of the Crow were quite 

 bright, and the bird had evidently not long been dead. 

 In the same field there were many Hooded Crows feed- 

 ing, quite unconcerned at the presence of the enemy." It 

 is doubtful whether the Kestrel would attempt to kill 

 a bird like the Hooded Crow, it must have been found 

 dead by the Kestrel. 



In Mr. J. E. Harting's Handbook of British Birds, 

 1901, it is stated that the " Kestrel occasionally nests in 

 hollow trees, as at Bromley in Kent, in 1876, when six 

 eggs were found in one nest, the usual number being 

 five." 



Lord Clifton, writing on the late assumption of the 

 adult plumage by the male Kestrel, says : " About the 

 second week in January, 1877, a male Kestrel was shot 

 here (Cobham) which was hardly distinguishable from 

 an old female, except in the slightly smaller size and a 

 warm tone of rufous on the back. The tail was slightly 

 washed with blue, but not so much as in some old 

 females. Even the upper tail-coverts were rufous, and 

 the feathers on the nape were whitish, forming rather a 

 Merlin-like collar. I took it at first for a small female." 

 The bird mentioned above was evidently in the second 

 moult, and would not assume its full colours until the 

 spring. 



Three nestling Kestrels were obtained in Kent, and 

 reared, and turned out to be males. It was not until the 

 second moult that one of them assumed the blue head, 

 yet all three were males from the same nest. 



The Kestrel breeds in the old chalk-pits or cliffs on 

 the Boxley Hills, and also in the cliffs near Broadstairs. 

 They do occasionally take a young Pheasant from the 

 coops. 



