HAWKS IN TOWN 295 



place, and the smaller hawks are attracted in the 

 same way. Now, here we have in the towns a 

 great supply of the smaller birds, on which the 

 sparrow-hawk and the kestrel habitually prey. But 

 how often is either of them seen within the borders 

 of a town? They might hunt with impunity, and 

 the sparrows are so abundant that nobody would 

 lament if an enemy would appear, capable of thin- 

 ning their ranks. But the enemy does not come. 

 Doubtless the reason is that the gamekeeper has 

 most effectually reduced their numbers and imbued 

 the survivors with such a fear of mankind that 

 even the best of good hunting cannot induce them 

 to take up their quarters where human beings 

 abound. 



But twice within the last month (November, 

 1912) I have had the pleasure of seeing a hawk 

 the same hawk, I believe in town. On the 

 first occasion it appeared and disappeared so 

 suddenly that I could not decide whether it was 

 a kestrel or sparrow-hawk, for though their 

 colouration is very distinct, the bird was between 

 me and the light, and I saw it all dark. It came 

 like a stone from above, picked up a hedge- 

 sparrow, and next moment was gone among the 

 trees of a neighbouring garden. On the next occa- 

 sion the 8th of November I saw it in the air, 

 hovering over a piece of swampy ground sur- 

 rounded by tall grass. It was at a height of 

 about two hundred feet, and showed itself at a 

 glance to be a kestrel by its manner on the wing. 

 The folk -name of the kestrel is the wind-hover, 

 and this one might have been bent on proving 



