THE KESTREL 159 



astonishing, for nearly every wood is tenanted 

 by a pair or more of these hawks, and each bird 

 kills three or four mice per day, which number 

 is much increased when there are young ones to 

 be fed, so that in the course of twelve months 

 its bag becomes a big one. If the average was 

 as low as two mice per day and I am sure it would 

 be more each kestrel would account for seven 

 hundred and thirty mice per year, while if it 

 were three each day we should have to place 

 considerably over a thousand per annum to 

 every kestrel's credit. Even this latter figure 

 is by no means a generous one, and I should 

 not be surprised if, in fact, it was not greatly 

 exceeded. 



Though the kestrel loves the shelter of the 

 trees, and you seldom come across a wood that 

 is not the home of one or more pairs, yet this 

 hawk does not despise the open country, ranging 

 out over the moors and the desolate hill-sides, 

 where, no other site being available, it will nest 

 on a ledge in the face of a crag. It is, in fact, 

 an adaptable bird, and when circumstances 

 compel, i.e. when no better place can be found, 

 it will even lay its eggs upon the ground; for 

 instance, in the Outer Hebrides, where there are 

 no trees, it resorts to the little islands in the 

 lochs and makes its nest among the heather. 



It is no doubt this adaptability which helps 

 the kestrel to be so common, for it is found 

 throughout the country, but it is in wooded 

 districts that it is most plentiful and where it 



