KESTREL. 53 



The Kestrel is one of the most common species of the 

 British Falconidfe, and from its peculiar habits, Avhich place 

 it very often in view, it is also, as might be expected, one 

 of the best known. It is handsome in shape, attractive in 

 colour, and graceful in its motions in the air ; though from 

 its mode of searching for its food, and the shortness of its 

 wings compared with others of the small raptorial species 

 already figured, it departs from the characters of the true 

 Falcons. It is best known, and that too at any moderate 

 distance, by its habit of sustaining itself in the air in the 

 same place by means of a short but rapid motion of the 

 wings, while its powerful eyes search the surface beneath for 

 mice of different species, which form by far the most con- 

 siderable part of its food. It has acquired the name of 

 Windhover from this habit of remaining with outspread tail 

 suspended in the air, the head on these occasions always 

 pointing to windward ; and it is also called Stonegall, which 

 Mr. Mudie suggests should be written Standgale from the 

 same habit. 



Mice, as before stated, certainly form the principal part 

 of the food of this species ; and it appears to obtain them 

 by dropping suddenly upon them, and thus taking them by 

 surprise. Montagu says that he never found any feathers 

 in the stomach of the Kestrel ; but it is certain that it does 

 occasionally kill and devour small birds. The remains of 

 coleopterous insects, their larvse, and earth-worms have been 

 found in their stomachs ; and Mr. Selby, on the authority 

 of an eye-witness, has recorded the following fact : " I had 

 the pleasure this summer of seeing the Kestrel engaged in 

 an occupation entirely new to me, — hawking after cockchafers 

 late in the evening. I watched him with a glass, and saw him 

 dart through a swarm of the insects, seize one in each claw, 

 and eat them Avhile flying. He returned to the charge again 

 and again. I ascertained it beyond a doubt, as I afterwards 

 shot him." 



