208 THE LIFE OF TEE FIELDS. 



shadow cast by his load of com, the country-side stares 

 all parched and cracked and gasps for a rainy breeze. 

 The kestrel hovers just the same. Could he not do 

 so, a long calm would half starve him, as that is his 

 manner of preying. Having often spent hours in trees 

 for the purpose of a better watch upon animals and 

 birds, I can vouch for it that ascending currents are 

 not frequent — rare, in fact, except in a gale. In a 

 light air or calm there is no ascending current, or it 

 is imperceptible and of no use to the kestrel. Such 

 currents, when they do exist, are very local ; but the 

 kestrel's hover is not local : he can hover anywhere. 

 He can do it in the face of a stiff gale, and in a perfect 

 calm. The only weather he dislikes is heavy thunder, 

 rain, or hail, during which he generally perches on a 

 tree ; but he can hover in all ordinary rain. He effects 

 it by sheer power and dexterity of wing. Therefore if 

 the fact has any bearing upon the problem of flight, 

 the question of currents may be left out altogether. 

 His facing the wind is, as has been pointed out, only a 

 proof that he is keeping his balance. 



The kestrel is not the only bird that hovers. The 

 sparrowhawk can. So can all the finches, more or 

 less, when taking sefeds from a plant which will not 

 bear their weight or which they cannot otherwise get 

 at ; also when taking insects on the wing. Sparrows 

 do the same. Larks hover in their mating season, 

 uttering a short song, not the same as when they soar. 

 Numerous insects can hover : the great dragon-fly will 

 stop dead short in his rapid flight, and stay suspended 

 till it suits him to advance. None of these require 

 any current or wind. I do not think that hovering 



