14 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



to be by no means its regular habit. Tiie hovering 

 Kestrel, hanging motionless in the sky, at once 

 arrests the attention, and is one of the conspicu- 

 ously interesting features of bird-life. If it be 

 observed carefully through a field-glass, it will be 

 seen that the head, always turned to the wind, is 

 pressed downwards, and that the keen eyes are 

 scrutinizing the ground beneath. When a mouse 

 is discovered, the wings suddenly close, and the 

 lean form, with claws extended, shoots straight 

 down upon its victim. The Merlin, on the other 

 hand, rarely hangs upon its wings. Its custom is 

 to take its w^ay, flying low along the hedgesides, or 

 amidst the gorse of the common. Then when a 

 Linnet or Meadow-jDipit crosses its track, it may be 

 seen to give chase, following the marked bird with 

 hound-like persistence, and rarely failing to recover 

 its quarrv. This mode of pursuit is knoAvn in 

 Falconrv as raking, in contradistinction to the 

 manner of the Peregrine and others, which rise m 

 wide circles above their soaring prey, and stoop 

 down suddenly upon it. 



