KESTREL AND STARLINGS 117 



waves go up and down with the breeze, looking 

 like ripples on a lake when summer airs play on 

 the calm surface. Greenfinches are calling from 

 the higher bushes of the hedgerows, while over- 

 head twittering Swallows are darting hither and 

 thither, now skimming over the grass, then 

 playing round the tops of oaks, where insects 

 always abound ; far above crescent-winged Swifts 

 are flying swiftly, one moment over the meadows, 

 the next being away out of sight. From a 

 little wood comes the cry of the Cuckoo, and 

 another answers it from a tree hard by. 



But far away in the distance there is a dot in 

 the sky, seeming to be motionless over a field of 

 yellow buttercups ; for a moment it stays there, 

 and the next it has dropped to the meadow 

 beneath. This is too far off to be seen distinctly, 

 but by its movements we judge it to be a Kestrel ; 

 for presently he is up again and flies towards us, 

 every now and then stopping in his flight and 

 hovering here and there. At last he. is almost 

 overhead, and looking down on the meadow. 

 Spying the Starlings among the cows, he bears 

 up slowly against the wind and approaches them 

 from the farther side of a large oak. Being 

 somewhat high above the top branches of the tree, 

 he first of all for a while hovers, and then drops 



