122 THE KESTREL. 



swallow sings his song from the top of the chimney of the 

 steam engine," unheeding, but owns that " when a locality is 

 disturbed by the sparrow-hawk the kestrel is liable to be 

 mobbed." And Selby says he has " frequently inspected the 

 nests of young kestrels, and found them to consist entirely of fur 

 and bones of mice ; but when it finds a difficulty in getting its 

 favourite food, it preys upon birds, as bird-catchers have seen 

 the kestrel in the act of pouncing upon their call-birds ;" and he 

 " caught it in a trap baited with a bird." 



It is computed that during the 210 days in which the kestrel 

 feeds chiefly on field mice a single bird will destroy 840 mice, 

 besides an incalculable number of coleopterous insects, which 

 must be a great help to the farmer. Mr Waterton makes out 

 that these 840 mice, if left alive, would by breeding have 

 increased to such an extent that " a single kestrel, during the 

 210 days, is the means of destroying no fewer than 9,555 mice," 

 besides a countless host of beetles ; and yet the gamekeepers 

 try to exterminate it as "vermin," when, by Nature employed, 

 it is doing its best to keep down far more destructive vermin in 

 the shape of mice and beetles. But although Montagu, too, says 

 he " never found feathers or the remains of birds in the kestrel's 

 stomach," he also says that, "when it cannot get its favourite 

 food, it preys upon birds." The remains of young larks, 

 thrushes, lapwings, and other birds, along with the common 

 dung beetle and other coleoptera, and even earth-worms, have 

 been found in its stomach. It also preys on lizards, and has 

 been seen to carry off young chickens ; but, as already said in 

 these pages, there is no hard-and-fast line in Nature, either as 

 regards birds, nests, eggs, or food — birds, like all other creatures, 

 being guided by locality and circumstances ; and all that the 

 closest observer of Nature can give is the general characteristics. 

 It sometimes swallows mice whole, but generally tears them to 

 pieces ; if the birds are fledged, it plucks them just like the 

 sparrow-hawk. It is surprising to see the large mass the 

 stomach holds, rolled up into a ball, composed of hair and 

 feathers, with the bones and teeth within, to be the easier ejected 

 by the mouth in pellets — the usual habit with all the birds in 

 this family. It is interesting to see it sometimes, late in a 

 summer evening, hawking for cockroaches. Selby watched 

 one for a long time through a glass. He says — "It darted 

 through a swarm of these insects, seized one in each claw, and 

 ate. them whilst flying — returning again and again. I ascer- 

 tained it beyond a doubt, as I shot him." This catching of 



