THE NANKEEN KESTREL. 157 



and is often built in a cliff or in the hollow spout of a 

 tree, which latter position appears to be the one usually 

 selected by the female bird. 



Mr. A. J. North, the well-known Australian ornith- 

 ologist, mentions a nest as being three and a-half feet 

 high, by four or five broad, and about eighteen inches 

 deep, the nest being built upon the fork of a tree fully 

 seventy feet from the ground. The ground color of the 

 eggs (usually four or five in number), is a dirty white 

 or fawn, freckled all over with reddish-brown (see figure 

 in our plate), the eggs being variable, both in size and 

 in color. 



With regard to the nesting, Mr. Campbell and others 

 mention the case of these birds laying their eggs in the 

 abandoned nests of the raven, crow-shrike, etc. The 

 Kestrel well deserves its reputation as a destroyer of 

 noxious insects, and it is to be hoped that it will be 

 protected against all comers. 



