DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 9 



The Kestrel is perhaps the commonest of the 

 hawks in England. The nesting site is usually in 

 a tree — a fir tree in some narrow belt, or hedgerow^ 

 being often chosen in preference to a wood, and 

 very commonly the deserted nest of a Crow^ or Mag- 

 pie is occupied. It also builds in rocks and in the 

 recesses of steep banks. More rarely, the nest is 

 found in old towers and ruined buildings, and in 

 the trunks of hollow trees. Lord Lilford states 

 that in Spain, where it is extremely abundant, it 

 is found nesting in almost every church-tower and 

 ruin in town or country. The eggs are four to five 

 in number, thickly mottled with dark-brown or red, 

 varying much in size. The young are hatched 

 about the end of April, and are covered with 

 yellowish down. 



Like many other birds, the Kestrel increases in 

 numbers in the south in autumn, whereas in more 

 northerly districts it either disappears altogether, or 

 is but seldom seen. It is thus clear that in Eng- 

 land it partially migrates, whilst in many other 

 countries it does so absolutely. 



The hovering of the Kestrel — the manner in 

 which it maintains its stationary position in the air 

 for long spaces of time — has attracted the attention 

 of many diverse observers. Sir Walter Scott saw it 

 with a poet's eye alone; to Richard Jefferies it sug- 

 gested not only poetry — the vision of force sud- 

 denly turned into watchful ease at the will of its 

 owner — but it also provided material for curiously 

 minute observations of the methods of wing-poise, 

 balance, and susceptibility to air currents, which 

 may yet make his paper, " The Hovering of the 



