268 THE WINDHOVER. 



near the haunts of men. What heartfelt pleasure I often experience 

 in watching the evolutions of this handsome little falcon ! and with 

 frhat content I see the crow and the magpie forming their own 

 nests, as I know that, on the return of another spring, these very 

 nests will afford shelter to the windhover. Were I to allow the crow 

 and the magpie to be persecuted, there would be no chance for the 

 windhover to rear its progeny here ; for Nature has not taught this 

 bird the art of making its nest in a tree. How astonishing, and how 

 diversified, are the habits of birds ! The windhover is never known 

 to make use of a nest until it has been abandoned for good and all 

 by the rightful owner ; whilst, on the contrary, the cuckoo lays her 

 egg in one of which the original framer still retains possession. The 

 windhover usually lays five eggs, and one of them sometimes proves 

 addle. This bird is seen to the greatest advantage during the time 

 that it is occupied in rearing its young : at that period, nothing 

 throughout the whole range of ornithological economy can surpass 

 the elegance of its aerial evolutions. 



Perhaps it is not generally known that the windhover is a migra- 

 tory bird ; but whether the greater part of these hawks leave England 

 in the autumn, or merely retire from their breeding-place to some 

 other part of our country more congenial to their habits, is a 

 problem which remains yet to be solved. For my own part, I am 

 of opinion that a very large proportion of those which are bred in 

 England leave it in the autumn, to join the vast flights of hawks 

 which are seen to pass periodically over the Mediterranean Sea, on 

 their way to Africa. Last summer I visited twenty-four nests in my 

 park, all with the windhover's eggs in them. The old birds and 

 their young tarried here till the departure of the swallow, and then 

 they disappeared. During the winter, there is scarcely a windhover 

 to be found. Sometimes a pair or so makes its appearance, but does 

 not remain long. When February has set in, more of the windhovers 

 are seen ; and about the middle of the month their numbers have 

 much increased. They may be then heard at all hours of the day ; 

 and he who loves to study nature in the fields may observe them, 

 now on soaring wing, high above in the blue expanse of heaven ; 

 now hovering near the earth, ready to pounce upon the luckless 

 mouse j and now inspecting the deserted nests of crows and magpies, 



