THE HOVERING OF THE KESTREL. 207 



summer and other ricks and thatched sheds, from 

 which he sometimes takes his prey ; over stables, 

 where mice abound. He has no preference for one 

 side of a hedge or grove, and cares not the least on 

 which the wind blows. His hovering is entirely 

 determined by his judgment as to the chance of prey. 

 I have seen a kestrel hover over every variety of dry 

 ground that is to be found. 



Next, as to the wind. If any one has read what 

 has preceded upon his manner of preserving his 

 balance, it must be at once apparent that, supposing a 

 kestrel were hovering in a calm and a wind arose, he 

 would at once face it, else his balance could not be 

 kept. Even on the ground almost all birds face the 

 wind by choice ; but the hovering kestrel has no 

 choice. He must hover facing the wind, or it would 

 upset him : just as you may often see a rook flung 

 half aback by a sudden gust. Hence has arisen the 

 supposition that a kestrel cannot hover without a 

 wind. The truth is, he can hover in a perfect 

 calm, and no doubt could do so in a room if it 

 were large enough. He requires no current of any 

 kind, neither a horizontal breeze nor an ascending 

 current. A kestrel can and does hover in the dead 

 calm of summer days, when there is not the faintest 

 breath of wind. He will and does hover in the still, 

 soft atmosphere of early autumn, when the gossamer 

 falls in showers, coming straight down as if it were 

 raining silk. If you puff up a ball of thistledown it 

 will languish on your breath and sink again to the 

 sward. The reapers are sweltering in the wheat, the 

 keeper suffocates in the wood, the carter walks in the 



