THE FALCONS 145 



will presently leave only the latter as tenable sites for an eyrie. Its 

 double in miniature, the hobby, is a forest bird, but hunts on their 

 outskirts, as its long wings indicate. The merlin seeks the wild moors 

 and mountain wastes as a summer resort, but migrates to lower 

 ground for the winter, and will even take up its residence in church 

 towers in the midst of small towns, feeding on pigeons and sparrows. 

 Most versatile and adaptable of all is the kestrel, which finds con- 

 genial surroundings and an abundance of food on lonely moors ; in 

 rugged country abounding in precipitous cliffs ; in low-lying marsh 

 land, or large woods : nor does it shun the habitations of men. Like 

 the peregrine, too, it finds a safe retreat on the rock ledges of sea- 

 girt cliffs. 



The peregrine and the merlin are fairly matched in the matter of 

 flight, both being exceedingly fast and agile on the wing, and run their 

 prey to earth. The hobby is swifter than either, since he will take the 

 swift and the swallow on the wing, but he is commonly content with 

 smaller game, not even despising cabbage-butterflies, dragon-flies, 

 and cockchafers. The kestrel differs from all the other falcons in its 

 wonderful power of hanging stationary in mid-air, suspended on 

 pinions vibrating so rapidly as almost at times to appear motionless, 

 the while it is searching the ground below for mice, moles, or frogs, 

 thereby demonstrating the amazing power of sight which, in common 

 with all the Accipitres, it possesses. Cockchafers and other beetles 

 are taken on the wing. Birds rarely are taken by the kestrel, and 

 apart from the evidence of their castings, or pellets, this much is 

 clear from the indifference displayed by small birds as the kestrel 

 passes overhead, when the sparrow-hawk would have thrown the 

 whole community into a state of abject terror. 



Having regard to the prowess and vitality these birds display, 

 and to the charm they lend to the landscape, it is amazing that they 

 should be ranked as " vermin " and slain remorselessly, without trial, 

 by those whom we would well have supposed most likely to appreciate 

 their boldness and skill and marvellous vitality. But such is the case, 



VOL. IV. T 



