60 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



between them and the weald, and the open por- 

 tions of the forest range in the eastern division^ 

 abound with numbers of this species, which seem 

 to accumulate in the neighbourhood of the coast 

 as the winter approaches. Many of these are, of 

 course, birds of the year, but a considerable pro- 

 portion are adult, and I am convinced that I have 

 seen more of the latter during a morning's walk 

 among the fields, about the latter part of October, 

 in the neighbourhood of Worthing, than could 

 have been found in half the county during the 

 breeding-season. 



When the corn has been reaped, and the process 

 of gleaning or leasing, as it is here termed 

 finished, the kestrel may be seen hovering over the 

 stubbles: then, and for a long time afterwards, 

 those fields abound with their favourite prey. 

 Let us bear in mind that the arboreal beetles 

 (Lucanida, Melolonthidce, Cetoniadae, &c.*), 

 and the large moths and grubs of different kinds, 

 which constitute so great a proportion of their 

 daily food during the summer months, have now 

 in a great measure disappeared, or are becoming 

 difficult to discover: accordingly, as the season 

 advances, we find the windhover leaving our 

 woods and forests for the open fields, especially 



* Stag-beetles, Cockchafers, Rosechafers, &c. 



