THE KESTRELS. 203 



China. Our European Kestrel visits the Gold Coast in winter 

 and extends its range a considerable way down East Africa, and 

 perhaps to the southern districts of the continent. India is 

 also a winter home for the species, which is resident in the 

 Himalayas. 



In many countries bordering its southern range the Kestrel 

 is represented by a dark resident race. Thus, in the Azores, 

 in the mountains of i\byssinia, and again in those of Southern 

 India and Burma, there is a distinct difference in size and in 

 the deeper colourntion of the Kestrels, which can hardly be 

 looked upon as specific, but which show modifications effected 

 by a tropical habitat. 



Habits. — From its habit of hovering in the air, the Kestrel is 

 frequently noticed in the country, where it is known in many 

 places as the " Windhover." It is to be seen on almost any 

 evening in the neighbourhood of the stubble-fields, where, 

 as if held in the air by a thread, it hovers on the look-out 

 for field-mice. If unsuccessful in its search, it will circle away 

 to another part of the field, and then commence to hover 

 again, till it falls like a bolt on its unsuspecting prey. Its food 

 consists not only of mice, moles, and other small mammalia, 

 but also largely of insects, frogs, lizards, &c. Cockchafers are 

 a favourite food, and these and other beetles it devours on the 

 wing. It is but rarely that the Kestrel is driven by sheer 

 necessity, in a droughty season perhaps, to make a raid on the 

 Pheasant-coops to find food for its young, and, as a rule, the 

 bird is a real friend to the farmer and gardener. So little do 

 small birds regard it as an enemy, that I have seen a Kestrel 

 perched on a straw-stack and surrounded by Sparrows, who 

 were pilfering gaily without heeding the Hawk, and when the 

 little birds flew off, affording, as one would have thought a 

 splendid opportunity for a raid on such a flock, the Kestrel 

 did not attempt to follow. 



That they can, however, when hard pressed for food, be 

 decidedly destructive to young game has been proved by 

 several observers, and Mr. Dc Winton lately shot a pair in the 

 act of killing young Pheasants. This is, however, undoubtedly 

 a rare occurrence, and was the more remarkable in this instance, 

 because this particular pair seemed to be the only delinquents ; 

 all the other Kestrels, of which there were plentv in the neigh- 



