1 6 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



It is worthy of remark that at the season when 

 Kestrels are most numerous, the hay is stacked and 

 the corn carried. Consequently, the long -tailed 

 field-mouse (Mus sylvaticus) and the common 

 meadow -mouse (Arvicola agrestis] are deprived 

 of the friendly cover which has sheltered them 

 throughout the summer, and are more easily espied 

 by the Kestrels, who destroy them in numbers, and 

 thus help to save our crops for the coming year. 



In this good work they are joined by the Owls, 

 particularly the Barn Owl (Strix flammea) ; and if 

 there were no other reason for preserving these 

 birds, this alone, one would think, should suffice. 



The adult male Kestrel is characterised by his 

 slaty-blue head and tail, and more intensely rufous 

 back. The female is more sombre in appearance 

 and more spotted, and never assumes the slaty-blue 

 colour above referred to. They pair early in the 

 year, and generally take possession of an old crow's 

 nest, which they repair and sometimes re-line. 



Instances, however, are on record of Kestrels 

 nesting in hollow trees after the fashion of Owls. 

 In the summer of 1876 a pair nested in the hollow 

 of an old pollard at Bromley, Kent. The nest was 



