BEARING AND PROTECTION. 73 



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 " Kough Notes," has carefully investi- 

 gated the accusations against the kestrel, and he maiutains 

 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 bj^ one male kestrel, and 

 the following year twenty suifered 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 

 pi'actice, and the good services rendered by the bird may 

 plead for the species, although it may be desirable to destroy 

 the particular aggressor. 



The pheasant, from nesting on the ground, is peculiarly 

 exposed to the attacks of four-footed or ground vermin, and 

 the escape of any of the sitting birds and their eggs from 

 foxes, polecats, hedgehogs, &c., appears at first sight almost 

 impossible. This escape is attributed by many, possibly by 

 the majority, of sportsmen to the alleged fact that in the 



