58 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



prey is invariably secured, and the Kestrel then retreats 

 to the shelter of an adjacent tree or hedgerow to devour 

 it. But not alone mice of various kinds, but many 

 another farmer's pest is destroyed by the Kestrel, as its 

 food is varied according to the seasons. In the spring 

 Cockchafers, Grasshoppers, and such-like insects, form 

 its staple food, though possibly an occasional bird or 

 mouse suffers capture ; as the summer merges into 

 autumn the Kestrel may be seen hovering over the 

 stubble fields upon the watch for mice, of which destruc- 

 tive little quadruped it is almost as great a destroyer 

 as the Owl itself. This handsome little hawk will also 

 take rats, and has been known to take young chickens, 

 and will even attack as large a bird as a Starling. The 

 Kestrel tears its food after the manner of the rest of 

 hawks. When autumn advances and the scattered 

 corn of the stubble fields becomes exhausted, most mice 

 desert the open fields and take refuge in ricks, rarely 

 showing themselves outside, and therefore the Kestrel 

 too has to look about for fresh hunting-grounds ; and so 

 it is, no doubt, that the Kestrel, about this time, becomes 

 more or less migratory. Some merely change their 

 district, whilst others take a more lengthened flight to the 

 Continent. 



McGillivray says the Kestrel does not eat birds, but 

 the contrary has been many times proved. Many Kestrels, 

 too, have been taken in bird-catchers' nets when in the 

 very act of attacking the brace, or call-birds, and are, in 

 consequence, invariably driven off when observed. And 

 again, when replete with food, this bird is oftentimes 

 mobbed by an assemblage of smaller birds, who, at such 

 times, congregate together in the common cause quite 



