FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 123 



beetles and eating from the claw on the wing is just an instance 

 of the latitude referred to. I have often watched a little 

 " lesser tern " repeatedly hover above the water like the kestrel, 

 plunge down, and rise up with a tiny sand eel or sprat, and 

 arrange it till the head of the fish was in proper position to be 

 swallowed first — all on the wing ; and as the tern migrates 

 from us on the approach of winter, when sand eels and sprats 

 are scarce, why should not the kestrel also migrate, when mice 

 and beetles have disappeared from the fields 1 There are doubts 

 as to the migration of the kestrel from Britain ; but that it 

 leaves some localities for others on the approach of winter, like 

 the robin, is certain. Mr Waterton, who made his park a 

 preserve for birds, is of opinion that " a very large proportion 

 of those bred in England leave it in the autumn to join the vast 

 flight of hawks which pass periodically over the Mediterranean 

 on their way to Africa." " One summer," he says, "I saw twenty- 

 four nests in my park, all with windhovers' eggs in them. The old 

 and young birds tarried till the departure of the swallow, and 

 then disappeared. During winter there is scarcely one to be 

 seen. When February sets in several are seen, and by the 

 middle of the month their numbers increase. They may be 

 seen soaring above, or hovering near the earth, to pounce upon 

 the mouse, or inspecting the old nests of crows or magpies for 

 incubation. Allowing four young ones to each nest, there were 

 96 bred that year ; add the old birds, and there would be 144. 

 Now, scarcely five kestrels were seen here from Michaelmas to 

 the end of January." This is confirmed by Mr Hepburn, who, 

 writing of East Lothian, says : — " Though not uncommon in 

 this County, yet, from October to March I did not see a single 

 kestrel; but their numbers increased in spring." From this 

 he thinks they migrate from the district ; but as we have no 

 preserves for birds of prey about St Andrews — and by no means 

 very common at any time — I cannot speak of this from personal 

 observation, only I do not remember seeing any here in winter. 

 The haunts of this beautiful falcon have been cut down, for 

 the old woods of Stravithie, Kinglassie, Polduff, Priorsmuir, 

 Allanhill, St Michael's, and many more, are gone to make room 

 for the plough. It prefers to have its nest on a solitary tree 

 on the outskirts of a wood, or on an old Scotch fir standing by 

 itself in a field. I have got its nest and eggs in an old rook's 

 nest on one of the few old trees which stood by the side of the 

 Eden, near Seafield Brickwork. 



But time changes all things, like bonnie Bessie Lee — even the 



