54 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



mound began to devour it, commencing at the 

 head or back of the neck. Having suddenly 

 made my appearance at this moment, she flew off, 

 carrying the now dead and mutilated rat in cne 

 foot with comparative ease, and as I looked after 

 her, I could see her continuing her flight across a 

 wide meadow, until she topped a low hedge at the 

 opposite side, near a large wood, in the recesses 

 of which she could continue her repast without 

 further interruption. 



You will perhaps think that I have described 

 this little incident with unnecessary minuteness : 

 1 had two reasons for recording these apparently 

 trifling details : it was the first instance I had met 

 with of any raptorial bird relaxing its grasp of the 

 quarry, and even quitting it, before life was ex- 

 tinct; and it serves to prove that, besides being an 

 efficient destroyer of mice, the kestrel is also a 

 check upon that most odious of all four-footed 

 vermin, the rat. 



Ornithologists are aware that the slow-worm 

 (Anguis fragilis) is constantly devoured by this 

 bird, but it has even stronger claims to the title of 

 "serpent-killer." A specimen was shot in this 

 neighbourhood in the act of killing a large adder: 

 the bird and reptile are both in my collection. 



The perusal of Mr. Waterton's interesting re- 

 marks on the windhover in Yorkshire has induced 



