118 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



forms of the peregrine. The merlin is repre- 

 sented in America by the pigeon-hawk; so alike 

 are the two birds that an ornithologist can scarcely 

 tell them apart. Kestrels also have a world- 

 wide distribution, the American sparrow-hawk 

 being quite similar to the kestrel of falconry. 



Useless as a bird-catcher and lacking the dash 

 and courage so necessary for taking game on the 

 wing, the last named species, alone of all European 

 falcons, is of small value to the falconer. In the 

 wild state the natural food of the kestrel consists 

 of grasshoppers and field-mice ; any bird which it 

 by chance captures is taken only by stealth. All 

 other falcons, except to some extent the hobby, 

 a bird not mentioned above because so closely re- 

 lated to the kestrel, are diametrically opposite 

 in character. Meat is their food meat obtained 

 by capturing their warm-blooded quarry alive. 

 To them belong all the dash, the grace, and the 

 swiftness for which hawks are noted. They com- 

 mand the air with their superior flight. Mount- 

 ing sufficiently high, they poise above their vic- 

 tims, then drop with swishing wings and strike 

 with savage talons. When falcons are properly 

 trained, they hurl themselves at the appointed 

 quarry regardless alike of its size, fierceness, or 

 wicked bill. They have no fear for their own 

 safety. Again and again will they return to the 

 encounter until the enemy is driven to earth, de- 

 feated and dying, or they have succumbed to their 



