84 THE KESTREL AND 



A converted thief, they say, makes a clever detective, 

 and a reclaimed poacher makes a good gamekeeper. 

 The For the same reason, it may be, the sparrowhawk, 

 Kestrel in w h en disciplined and trained to the art of falconry, no 

 becomes the more efficient bird ; and, in olden days, 

 when the feudal Castle went forth a-hawking, it was 

 more frequently promoted, with the adornment of 

 hood and jess, to the gloved hand of lady fair. It 

 was the prime favourite of the sporting abbot. The 

 gerfalcon and the peregrine were for the wrist of the 

 king or his peer ; the goshawk rode with the knight ; 

 and as for the gentle kestrel, he was good enough for 

 a boy-beginner of the noble art whence his name, 

 the coystril's hawk. Having a less passionate desire 120 

 for an avian quarry than the sparrowhawk, the kestrel 

 was more difficult to train for the pursuit of birds, 

 and was less to be depended on in maintaining the 

 pursuit. And he had nothing of the keen love of 

 sport, or rather of destruction, for its own sake which 

 the peregrine either naturally possessed or could be 

 trained to develop. Sir John Sebright testifies to the 

 peregrine striking down birds merely for its amuse- 

 ment. ( I have seen one ', he says, ' knock down and 

 kill two rooks who were unlucky enough to cross his iso 

 flight, without taking the trouble to look at them 

 after they fell/ The kestrel, and more particularly 

 the sparrowhawk, have been taught by careful train- 

 ing to perform remarkable feats in the capture and 

 slaughter of smaller birds, such as partridges, pigeons, 

 larks, and thrushes ; but it is to be noted that in a 

 state of nature, while the sparrowhawk continues for 

 his own beak or nest the habits to which in olden 

 times he was broken for his owner's pouch and table, 



