86 IN A CHESHIRE GARDEN 



The hawk was always solitary; I never saw 

 it with a companion. The roost was always 

 exactly on the same stone." 



One has heard stories of other birds living 

 the same kind of lonely existence, but I 

 never saw a very satisfactory explanation as 

 to how it is that they come to do so. The 

 pairing instinct is strong in birds, and it must 

 be a powerful motive that makes them 

 disregard it. We are told that if a bird of 

 prey loses its mate it does not take it long 

 to find another. May we suppose that 

 solitary birds like this at Arley are waiting 

 in readiness for such an emergency? Or is 

 such a bird simply one that, being old and 

 cantankerous, is bored by female society, or 

 feels himself unequal to the cares of a 

 family ? 



All birds seem to give a sparrow hawk a 

 wide berth, but one often sees a kestrel 

 pursued, most frequently perhaps by a rook, 

 but sometimes by a peewit or a gull. In 

 October, 1908, I saw from the garden a 

 kestrel persecuted by two rooks. He kept 

 dodging their attacks, but didn't seem to 

 mind them much and never turned on them. 

 Again, at the end of October, 1906, I was 

 watching a kestrel as it hovered over a field 

 close by, when I saw it suddenly and violently 

 assaulted by a missel-thrush. It gave way 

 for some space, but when in a minute or two 

 the thrush flew off, it returned to its first 



