SPAKROW-HAWK, MERLi:S", KESTREL, AND OWL. 81 



If we were getting up game when it was 

 very scarce we would not allow the kestrel to 

 breed on the ground at first. But where game 

 is plentiM, we should preserve him only on 

 the condition that he did not carry off our 

 pheasants. 



It is because some natiu^alists attempt too 

 much that they are not listened to. Wliat is 

 the use of their teUing keepers that the kestrel 

 \vill never kill a young bird, when these men 

 have nearly all at some time or another shot him 

 in the act ? If he carries off a young wild bhd, 

 he may never find that brood again. The hen 

 will probably shift her ground a little. But 

 our hens are cooped in comparatively bare 

 places ; and when he once finds out how easy 

 it is to procure a meal, he wiU return time 

 after time until there is not a bird left. Are 

 we really supposed to tolerate this any more 

 with pheasants than with turkeys or chickens ? 

 A keeper may have had bad luck with his 

 pheasants' eggs and have liatched but few, and 



G 



