KESTREL. 203 



is rolled up so as to form a little pellet, which it voids 

 by the mouth, and not by the intestine ; for its ex- 

 crements are almost lic^nid and whitish. On putting 

 these pellets which it vomits into hot water, to soften 

 and unravel them, you find the entire skin of the mouse, 

 as if it had been flayed. — It at first feeds the young 

 with insects, and afterwards carries to them plenty>f 

 field-mice, which it perceives on the ground from the 

 greatest height in the air, when it slowly wheels, and 

 often remains stationary to spy its prey, on which it 

 falls in a moment. It sometimes carries oif a red part- 

 ridge much heavier than itself; it also often catches 

 pigeons which straggle from the flocks ; but its most 

 common prey, next to field-mice and reptiles, consists 

 of sparrows, chaffinches, and other small birds." 



Whether this be correct or not, I am not qualified 

 to decide ; but, I believe, the Count has committed an 

 error in the matter of the pellets. I have always 

 found, both in the kestrel and in owls, the pellets com- 

 posed of hair, with the bones carefully, as it were, 

 wrapped up in their centre ; but the skins were not left 

 entire, as alleged in the above account ; they had been, 

 in fact, totally digested. 



Propagation. — The Kestrel seems to keep in pairs 

 all the year round, and about the end of March begins 

 to construct or repair its nest, which is composed of 

 decayed twigs, sometimes intermingled with grass or 

 wool, and is placed on the shelf or in the crevice of a 

 rock, or in a convenient part of some old tower. Some- 

 times it builds in the steeples of churches, even in the 

 midst of cities, at least this is said to be the case in 



