76 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



young partridges and pheasants viz., that the kestrel only 

 destroys them when very young, and the sparrowhawk 

 continues to attack them long after they have grown too large 

 to be prey for the kestrel. To particularise two instances : 

 Many years ago, a very young partridge was brought to me 

 which had been taken out of a kestrel's nest at Easton, in 

 Norfolk ; and a gamekeeper in this parish, who is as trust- 

 worthy an observer of such matters as any man I know, 

 saw a hen kestrel take up a very young pheasant in its 

 talons and rise with it about eight feet from the ground ; 

 my informant then fired at the depredator with a small 

 pistol, when it dropped its prey, which, though somewhat 

 injured, ultimately recovered; and an instance of a young 

 pheasant found in the nest of a kestrel was recorded in the 

 Field of May 13, 1868." 



Mr. Booth, in his " Rough Notes on British Birds," 

 carefully investigated the accusations against the kestrel, and 

 maintained that it is one of our most useful birds, and a 

 decided ally to the game preserver, more especially as a 

 destroyer of rats, of which it kills large numbers. He says 

 he has never known the kestrel to carry off young broods of 

 either pheasants or partridges, but that the damage done by 

 the sparrowhawk is often attributed to the kestrel. 



On the contrary, Mr. Marshall, of Wallingford, writing in 

 the Field, of June 17, 1899, states that he lost twenty-three 

 young pheasants, which were killed by one male kestrel, and 

 the following year twenty suffered a similar fate, the kestrel 

 being seen to pounce upon and carry off his victims in full 

 view. Ultimately, the kestrel forced his way through the 

 narrow space between the coop and the wire run, and was 

 captured without injury, so that it was evident that the 

 aggressor was not a sparrowhawk. He was in splendid 

 plumage and kept alive; consequently, there can be no doubt 

 whatever that occasionally a kestrel will make a raid on a 

 brood of young pheasants ; but it is obviously an exceptional 

 practice, and the good services rendered by the bird may 



