HAWKS AND OWLS. 29 
ferring the captive to its beak almost by the self-same 
movement. 
Should neither mice nor beetles be forthcoming, 
the bird disdains not to alight upon the ground and 
thereon to search for insects, or even to pull unwary 
earthworms from their burrows. Sometimes, when 
pressed by hunger, it will attack a small bird, or 
even make a repast upon a young partridge or a 
pheasant ; and we have more than one well-authen- 
ticated report of kestrels swooping suddenly over a 
stream, and snatching therefrom a hapless fish which 
was basking too near the surface. Such lapses from 
the path of virtue, however, upon the part of the 
kestrel are very few and far between, and, save under 
exceptional conditions, the bird may be considered 
as the unqualified friend of man. 
According to Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, this bird, under 
certain circumstances, 1s apt to ‘‘ make its generation 
messes to gorge its appetite.” He tells us a gruesome 
story, at any rate, of four specimens, a male and three 
females, which he had for some time in his posses- 
sion, and which, upon one occasion, were accidentally 
left for a few hours without food. The hens, unable 
to restrain their appetite, banded together and set 
upon the unfortunate cock, who was the smallest 
and weakest of the party, and by the time that a 
supply of the legitimate food arrived, only a few 
feathers remained to bear witness to the tragedy 
which had been enacted. 
Most of us are familiar with the appearance of the 
kestrel, as it hovers motionless in the air many 
