FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 152 



the female 14 J and 30 inches. The tail is 7 J inches long; 

 toes and claws are long, but the middle toe is comparatively 

 shorter than the other falcons', which, like the rounded tail, have 

 induced some ornithologists to separate it from the genus Falco. 

 But, as already said, there is no end to classification. Its legs 

 and talons are not so thick and strong as its little brother the 

 merlin's, and its wings are comparatively shorter. I leave the 

 illused kestrel alone with Nature — a hunted but mistaken prey 

 for the gamekeeper to try and extirpate one of the most elegant, 

 useful, and interesting feathered friends of the farmer. 



In a discussion lately in the press as to whether or not hawks 

 and owls assist the farmer in the destruction of rats and vermin, 

 one writer sensibly doubts if any of them do so to any great 

 extent as to rats ; but, as to the assistance of the kestrel, he 

 truly says — " Of the hawk tribe the only one worth noticing in 

 the present discussion is the kestrel. It is most interesting to 

 watch this beautiful bird hovering in search of food, and 

 remaining stationary for a considerable time, then dashing down 

 on its prey. I watched one stoop eleven times in a field, and 

 was anxious to know what it was feeding on. Behind a hedge, 

 it came over my head, when I shot it, and found on dissection 

 its crop full of beetles and caterpillars, while a mouse, partly 

 assimilated, was in the gizzard." Here was proof positive of 

 the great help the kestrel renders to the agriculturist in the wise 

 economy of Nature. And yet, while doing its best to help the 

 farmer, it is shot down as a pest by the hirelings of sport, while 

 its crop is filled with the proofs of its assistance ; — which 

 reminds one of Shakespeare's cutting allusion to lordly sports 

 and habits, when Posthumous, in the humblest garb of a 

 peasant, and two boys, stayed the rout of the Britons in a 

 narrow lane, and drove back the Roman army, saying — 



" Let me make men know 

 More valour in me than my habits show. 

 Gods, put the strength o' the Leonati in me ! 

 To shame the guise o' the world, I will begin 

 The fashion, less tvithout, and more xoithin ! " 



