DISTRIBUTION DURING THE WINTER. 63 



ficult to imagine that if half the numbers of this 

 prolific hawk which are bred in England, were to 

 remain with us during the dead of winter, the 

 country would fail to furnish such a quantity of 

 their natural aliment as would satisfy the wants of 

 all, and they would either starve or be compelled 

 to do violence to their tastes, and to prey upon 

 many species of birds which they had heretofore 

 left unmolested. But although several kestrels 

 remain scattered at intervals through our woods 

 and over our moors during this season when I 

 have known an instance of a female killing and 

 devouring a wounded partridge yet the great 

 body of those which gradually concentrate near 

 the coast during the autumn and afterwards disap- 

 pear, certainly seem to be on their passage from 

 the more northern and central parts of the island, 

 preparatory to their migration from this country 

 to some southern region, where their favourite 

 food may possibly abound during the winter. As 

 early as the latter end of February, or the begin- 

 ning of March, we again notice a considerable 

 addition to their ranks, but in the ensuing month, 

 the woods in the interior and the cliffs on the 

 coast contain only the usual number that sojourn 

 with us during the breeding-season ; and on the 

 whole the species appears to be but moderately 

 distributed throughout this county until the arrival 



