OUR BIRDS OF PREY. 91 



to make clear before. It is this : although it is perfectly true 

 to say that the Kestrel does not habitually feed on young game 

 birds, it is not true to say that it never does so. From time to 

 time a particular Kestrel will, no doubt, develop this taste and 

 take to visiting the coops. Common as -the Kestrel is in England, 

 it is far more abundant in other countries. In the South of Spain, 

 for example, these birds are quite gregarious. The writer has 

 seen " clouds " of them wheeling round the towers of Cordova 

 Cathedral. They are frequently seen in Devonshire perched on 

 the weathercocks of churches or wheeling round the lofty steeple, 

 as our artist has here represented a pair of Kestrels. There is no 

 more charming sight to a lover of nature than the Kestrel hanging, 

 with scarcely vibrating pinions, over down or cliff in the eye of the 

 wind. It really does seem as if at last this bird will be protected 

 in this country, as if the repeated efforts of accredited writers have 

 succeeded in hammering home this truth, that in the Kestrel the 

 farmer has a friend he can very ill afford to lose. 



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