

KESTREL. 



FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 



Family Falcon id^. Genus Falco. 



Windhover — Hoverhawk — Creshawk. 



The Kestrel or Windhover — a name which it has 

 from the habit of hovering in the air — is by far the 

 commonest of our hawks and may be found over all 

 the British Isles. Although many Kestrels remain 

 with us during the winter, it is really a migratory bird; 

 and if, as has been stated, the absence of food is the 

 cause of migration, one can understand such a bird as 

 this seeking a country where mice and beetles are 

 commoner than they are with us in the winter. For 

 birds are not the Kestrel's regular food, and there is 

 not the terror among small birds at its approach that 

 one notices on the approach of a Sparrow Hawk. It 

 is very fond of cockchafers, and one would have 

 thought its partiality for mice would have caused it to 



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