26 THE KESTEEL. 



it, for, on the 12th of January 1888, I noticed a male 

 Kestrel sitting on an ash-tree on the farm of Girrick, in 

 the parish of Nenthorn, while several Greenfinches and 

 a Yellow-Hammer were hopping about on the branches 

 within a few feet of its perch. Frogs and beetles also 

 form a part of its food. 



It frequents the precipitous rocks on the sea-coast of 

 Berwickshire, where it breeds, some of its favourite nesting 

 places being near Siccar Point, Fast Castle, Blakey, and the 

 Coal Point at Lamberton. It likewise resorts to inland 

 cliffs on the Whitadder and Blackadder, such as the Eaven's 

 Knowe near Tibbie Fowler's Glen, and the scaur at Black- 

 castle Eings on Greenlaw Moor, where the Fangrist joins 

 the Blackadder. 1 Buildings 2 are sometimes frequented by 

 this Hawk, and in the wooded parts of the county it fre- 

 quently takes possession of the deserted nest of a Magpie, 

 Crow, or Wood Pigeon, in a spruce or Scotch fir, laying four 

 or five eggs of a reddish-brown colour. 



Its cry, "keelie, keelie, keelie," may be often heard in 

 the breeding season near its haunts. 



The Kestrel was formerly used in falconry, but was 

 not much valued for this purpose, and was consequently 

 assigned to persons of inferior rank. 3 



1 When I visited Blackcastle Rings with Mr. Loney, Marchmont, on the 14th of 

 July 1886, he informed me that he had occasionally observed the Kestrel's nest 

 there. 



2 Mr. Peter Scott, Lander, tells me that about twenty-five years ago the Kestrel 

 used to nest regularly every season in the drainage holes of the bridge near the 

 Saw Mill at Thirlestane Castle. 



3 Mr. Harting, in his Ornithology of Shakespeare, p. 74, says : " The origin of the 

 word 'Kestrel' is somewhat uncertain. By some it is derived from 'coystril,'a 

 knave or peasant, from being the hawk formerly used by persons of inferior rank, 

 as we learn from Dame Juliana Berners in her Bolce of St. Allans. This opinion 

 is strengthened by the reading ' coystril ' in Twelfth Night (act i. sc. 3) and ' coistrel ' 

 in Pericles (act iv. sc. 6)." 



