A SUBURBAN ESTATE 35 



found breeding near a kestrel. I have known a 

 spotted flycatcher to nest in the same tree. If we 

 visit the haunt of these birds and search for pellets 

 underneath their nests, nearly all contain the remains 

 of mice and beetles, very few feathers being found. 

 I did once find a sparrow underneath a kestrel's nest, 

 and I believe some feathers of a chaffinch, but there 

 was nothing else to prove they fed on birds. The 

 kestrel is undoubtedly one of the farmer's best friends, 

 and all should be encouraged. 



Why such a war of extermination should be waged 

 against this entertaining and harmless species I never 

 could understand. It may be because he goes by the 

 name of a hawk. " Give even a bird a bad name and 

 kill him," is in keeping with an old proverb ; and a 

 keeper once told me confidentially that he shot "all 

 orks and howls" that entered his preserve. I think 

 that this mistaken zeal is the chief reason why the 

 attractive kestrel is so scarce in parts of England. 



At all times of the year kestrels are worth atten- 

 tion. Whenever I see one I stop and watch it, for 

 the light, buoyant flight ; the graceful hovering ; and, 

 most wonderful of all, its soaring, are always worth 

 noting. Let us go back a month or two and watch 

 them soaring in the pairing season. The flat expanse 

 of arable land before me looks dull and bare. Long, 

 dark furrows are as lines down the fields ; hedges 

 dividing these are trimmed and leafless ; the oaks and 



