170 WOODLAND CREATURES 



To go back to the tame kestrel mentioned above, 

 at the end of three weeks I decided she had 

 enjoyed my hospitality long enough, especially as 

 she refused to show any sport, and if thrown off 

 the fist in pursuit of a bird simply flew in the 

 opposite direction. So, as she had quite got over 

 her adventure in the village, she was given an 

 extra good feed, her jesses (little leather straps 

 round the legs) were cut off, and she was left free 

 to do what she pleased, but she was in no hurry 

 to be gone, and sat for some time on a tree-top, 

 but at last a wild kestrel passed over, whereupon 

 she flew off towards the woods and was never 

 seen again. 



This mention of a wild kestrel reminds me of 

 the visits a former kestrel used to have from 

 others of its kind. It and two sparrow hawks 

 used to sit out on their perches on the lawn, the 

 kestrel on a block and the sparrow hawks on 

 their bow-perches, and one day I was startled to 

 hear a loud chattering in the garden. On going 

 to see what was the matter I found a wild kestrel 

 was perched on one of the trees at the edge of 

 the lawn, and appeared to be doing its best to 

 attract the tame kestrel's attention, but Jim, as 

 he was called, took no notice, so the stranger 

 swooped down and flew across the lawn just 

 over his head. At this Jim did look up, but 

 still did not seem much interested. Again and 

 again the visitor swept backwards and forwards, 

 until it unfortunately caught a glimpse of me 

 and flew away. The next day I again heard the 



