NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



A German naturalist has noted that the common 

 kestrel is in his country often mistaken for the cuckoo ; 

 it may be said with equal truth that in England the 

 cuckoo is often mistaken for a hawk. These raptorials 

 are probably more easily tamed than any other species, 

 with perhaps the exception of the dainty merlin. A 

 kestrel may with care and attention be so completely 

 won over, if brought up from the nestling state, that 

 it will sit contentedly on its master's shoulder, without 

 any attempt at confinement, and suffer itself to be 

 carried about freely. It ought, however, to be remem- 

 bered that these birds exhibit great restlessness at the 

 period of the spring and autumn migration, especially 

 towards September. If, therefore, these captives are 

 suffered to take occasional flights, they should be kept 

 in at such seasons or, impelled by the migratory 

 instinct, they may sail away and never return. The 

 same restlessness has been observed at the period of 

 the spring migration (February), when so many of this 

 race are making north again from their winter sojourn. 

 In captivity they may be fed when young on calves' 

 heart and such tit-bits, cut up very small ; as they grow 

 older, on pieces of meat trimmings, dead birds, beetles, 

 mice, and so forth. They should be invariably kept 

 warm and dry. 



The kestrel was never reckoned of much use in 

 falconry. Among the hard-and-fast rules laid down 

 by the Normans regulating the use of various raptorial 

 birds in hawking, the gerfalcon was set apart for a 

 king, the falcon gentle for a prince, the peregrine for 

 an earl, the saker for a knight, the lanner for an esquire, 

 the merlin for a lady, and the hobby for a young man. 

 Similarly the goshawk was assigned to the yeoman, 

 the sparrow-hawk to the priest, and the musket to a 

 holy-water clerk. As for the kestrel, it comes last in 



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