A CHAT ABOUT THE KESTREL. 65 
one was once brought to me that had been reared by hand, but 
had been much teased by those natural enemies of the lower 
animals—children, and this was so fierce that it would fly at 
anyone who approached its cage. 
The Kestrel is very plentiful all over this part of the country, 
and is really a very handsome bird. It is also known as the 
Windhover, from its habit of remaining poised in the air over 
one particular spot for some length of time. Then is the time 
to take out your telescope and watch it, its head close to the wind, 
its sharp eyes directed below, able to detect the smallest move- 
ments even of the almost invisible field-mouse. The wings are 
shivering all the time, the tail-feathers altering their position 
now and then as necessary, while perhaps a swift but gentle 
sweep takes place occasionally as the prey shifts its ground or is 
lost. I often here at Folkestone lie on the top of the cliffs and 
watch the Kestrel down below on the Warren. I remember too 
enjoying the sight of a pair as I sat on the edge of the chalk 
escarpment overlooking the Oxford Plain at Chinnor; they were 
not very busy I think, for they were flying and chasing each 
other about for along time. A poor Crow in the vicinity was 
slightly victimised too, for one of them was every now and then 
pursuing him, though certainly with no carnivorous intentions. 
This habit of hovering in the air makes the bird not only a 
good mark for a telescope, but also for a gun, and as game- 
keepers generally shoot it on principle, so amateur sportsmen 
think it capital practice to aim at it. Every gamekeeper’s 
-museum contains a few slaughtered Kestrels, though I believe 
there are a few lords of wide domains who order them to be left 
alone, but the company of such is certainly ‘limited,’ while the 
sworn foes of the poor creature may well be named legion. Its 
food consists of mice, small birds, cockchaffers, and other insects, 
slow-worms, and even earth-worms; on the sea shore it eats 
‘erabs and other marine creatures. It is sad to be obliged to say 
that the Kestrel is a cannibal; it is exceedingly pugnacious even 
with its own species, and Mr. Newman, in his interesting history 
of British Birds, relates an anecdote of a female devouring her 
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