90 NATURE IN DOWNLAND 



the numerous flat little flowers gave a novel and very 

 beautiful appearance to the birds. For they were very 

 near, and quite motionless, though clamouring with open 

 beaks and swollen throats, and all their colours were 

 clearly visible — the white and tender pale grey of the 

 plumage, the shining yellow eye and yellow beak, with 

 its orange-red patch on the lower mandible, and the 

 flesh-coloured legs. 



It is interesting to watch the kestrel in summer, 

 after his breeding season, hunting for food on the 

 parched downs. He is most common on the high 

 ridge on the northern border of the range, overlooking 

 his woodland home on the flat country below. It 

 strikes one as curious to see this bird hauntincf the 

 same slopes day after day, flying about by the hour, 

 pausing at intervals to hover motionless for a minute 

 or so, then dashing down to seize his prey ; for you 

 know that no creature as big as the smallest baby 

 mouse exists at the spot. The fact is, he is catching 

 grasshoppers, which are abundant ; and the wonder is 

 that all this important strategy, these beautiful evolu- 

 tions and display of wing-power, should be put in 

 practice for such a purpose. The pipits and larks 

 creeping on the surface capture and swallow their 

 grasshoppers without any trouble. But the kestrel 

 has but one method, and he cannot vary it ; he must 

 look for his quarry when at a height of sixty or 

 seventy feet from the surface, even if it be a grass- 

 hopper ; and must hover long as if to take a sure aim, 



