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cliff, and disappear into a burrow, on which the birds all flew away; 
but a day or two later I again saw four or five kestrels about the 
same part. I suppose 1t was the rabbit that cried, as it seemed a 
distinct sound from the screams of the birds, and I should say he 
had avery narrow escape. Kestrels seem very pugnacious. Once 
in the autumn two hen kestrels rushed furiously at one another, 
and were so firmly grappled together by their talons that 
they could hardly be separated» when shot dead. On another 
occasion a male Kestrel ate the body of its partner, which 
had been shot, and hung in a tree; and a pair of Kestrels 
in confinement having been left without their supper, the male 
was killed and eaten by the female before the morning. . The way 
in which the Kestrel, or Windhover as it is called poises itself in 
the air before falling like a stone upon its prey, is a familiar sight 
to us all, the outspread tail and quivering wings making it a 
graceful object, suspended like Mahomet’s coffin between heaven 
and earth. I like to watch the way in which, when the prey has 
just escaped in time, the bird converts its fall into a rapid skimming 
movement over the surface of the ground and then rises and again 
searches for prey. The sudden change in its progress is very 
gracefully accomplished. 
The Buzzard I only allude to, to call attention to these fine 
Spicimens. 
Owls form a tolerably distinct suborder of birds, and can usually 
be recognised without any scientific knowledge, their large heads, 
short necks, fullface, surrounded by a sort of ruff, and the eyes 
both looking forward are familiar. characteristics of their kind. 
Owls are very interesting from a literary point of view. They were 
regarded as birds of ill-omen as much by the inhabitants of Greece 
and Italy in olden times as they have beenin England up to the 
present day, so also in Morocco and W. Africa, and in many 
Kastern countries. The Athenians alone seem to have had a regard 
for these birds, and an owl is found on the reverse side of many of 
their coins, the bird being sacred to their guardian Deity Athene. 
It is difficult to account for its being regard d as the embodiment of 
wisdom, unless from its having been sacred to Minerva, the Goddess 
of Wisdom. 
The ‘‘ Owlet’s wing ”’ was an ingredient in the witches’ cauldron, 
in ‘‘Macbeth” for their ‘‘ charm of powerful trouble” and with the 
character assigned to it by the ancients, Shakespeare, no doubt, 
felt that the introduction of an owl in a dreadful scene of a tragedy 
would help to make the subject come home more forcibly to the 
people who had, from early times, associated its presence 
with melancholy, misfortune and death. Accordingly we find the 
unfortunate owl stigmatised as the “ obscure,” “ ominous,” ‘ fear- 
