THE KESTREL 221 



Bold as the sparrow hawk undoubtedly is, it 

 not infrequently gets considerably bullied by the 

 very birds on which it preys. At times I have 

 seen it only too glad to escape from its antago- 

 nists, which, making common cause against their 

 enemy, compel it to take refuge in some copse or 

 tall tree-top, but not before they have adminis- 

 tered many a buffet, recalling to memory the 

 reply of Prince Geraint to the armourer in ' The 

 Idylls of the King ' : 



1 A thousand pips eat up your sparrow hawk ; 

 Tits, wrens, and all wing'd nothings peck him dead !' 



If there is any one of the Falconidae deserving 

 of our protection more than another, it is the 

 kestrel. It is a pity that keepers cannot be 

 brought to understand and believe that this is so. 

 To them a hawk is a hawk, and must therefore be 

 slaughtered, and no amount of reasoning or argu- 

 ment will convince them that such birds are their 

 friends rather than their foes. The poor kestrel 

 is a most harmless and inoffensive bird, feeding 

 almost entirely on grubs, beetles, and such-like 

 creatures, and it must be hard pressed for food 

 to wage war on another bird. Indeed, there is 

 nothing larger than a quail which it would be 

 likely to attack, and young game-birds, whether 

 partridges or pheasants, it leaves unmolested. 



The kestrel may be readily distinguished from 

 the sparrow hawk not only by its colour, but also 

 by its peculiar habit of hovering in the air, some- 



