342 THE BIRDS OB' THE BRITISH ISLES. 



is dark horn, the cere, orbits and legs red, and the claws almost 

 white. The female, which is but slightly larger, has the head, 

 nape, under parts, and under wing-coverts rufous rather than 

 chestnut, and the slate back is mottled and barred with 

 blackish grey ; the tail is distinctly barred. Immature birds 

 are browner above and the general colour is redder and paler, 

 whilst the forehead and throat are almost white. They may be 

 distinguished from young Merlins by the absence of distinct 

 striations on the thighs. The soft parts are yellower than in 

 the old birds, but at all ages the claws are very light. Length, 

 II '5 ins. Wing, 9*8 ins. Tarsus, 1*15 ins. 



Kestrel. Falco tinnunmlus Linn. 



The Kestrel (Plate 150), the commonest hawk in most parts of 

 Britain, is both resident and migratory. It has a wide range, 

 embracing most of Europe, north Africa and north and central 

 Asia ; the more northern birds winter further south. Even 

 from Scotland and the north of England there is a marked 

 southward movement in autumn, and at this time immigrants 

 reach us to winter or pass farther south. 



In addition to its chestnut dress and broadly barred tail, the 

 flight of the "Wind-hover" is a sure sign of its identity, for 

 though other hawks hover none has so perfected the art. It 

 hangs twenty to thirty feet above the earth, poised in the air 

 with quiverings wings and wide-spread, depressed tail, then 

 shdes forward, often without a wing-beat, to halt once more 

 over a fresh patch of ground. For a second or two the swiftly 

 winnowing wings may be held motionless, the bird supported 

 by an air current. High, soaring flight is unusual ; it seldom 

 moves at a great altitude unless on migration ; low, quartering 

 flight I have never seen. Passages from field to field are easy, 

 steady, but never hurried ; the Kestrel obtains its food by quick- 

 ness of eye, not of wing. The smartest actions are when. 



