200 FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 



mice and other small quadrupeds, as they are feeding 

 among the grass, or young birds not yet fledged, or if 

 so, not sufficiently strong or experienced to evade the 

 pursuit of their enemy. 



In searching for food, it flies at a moderate rate over 

 the fields, at the height of forty or fifty feet, moving 

 along with easy flappings, its tail slightly spread, and 

 its neck* retracted. For the purpose of examining a 

 portion of ground with the care necessary for detecting 

 its prey, it frequently fixes itself in the air, by means 

 of rapid, very gentle, and at a distance scarcely percep- 

 tible flappings of its extended wings, and the expansion 

 of its tail, — a habit not peculiar to this species, but per- 

 haps more remarkable in it than in any other. On 

 discovering its prey, it moves towards it, and darting 

 suddenly upon it, seizes it in its talons, on which it flies 

 directly ofi^ with great speed to a secure station in 

 wliich it may devour it unmolested. You may fre- 

 quently see it, after it has long hovered over a spot, 

 descend with great velocity, but §top short before reach- 

 ing the ground, and ascend in a wide curve, when it 

 flies off to renew its hovering in some other spot. In 

 such cases, its intended victim has probably saved its 

 life by a speedy retreat to its hole. 



The principal food of the Kestrel consists of field- 

 mice, for among the contents of its stomach I have 

 usually found hair, bones, and teeth of small glires. 

 In one instance I found the stomach distended with 

 fragments of the common dung-beetle, Scarabaus ster- 

 corarius. In the stomach of one of three individuals 

 examined in May 1833, with the view of completing 

 my description of the species, I found a mass of hair, 



