KESTREL 



LL dwellers in the country have opportunities for 

 watching this charming little hawk, for there are 

 very few places where he is not to be seen at some 

 time. At that period of the year when Chiffchaffs 

 and Willow Wrens are arriving on our shores and 

 finding their way to their summer homes, we may often see the 

 Kestrel soaring, and a pretty exercise this is. 



One bright spring morning I was standing in a meadow when 

 I saw two of these little brown Hawks swoop over my head, and 

 then one began going up in a spiral towards the deep blue April 

 sky. No sooner had he started than the other followed his 

 example, but travelled in the opposite direction. As I stood 

 immediately underneath and watched them rising higher and 

 higher with hardly a perceptible movement of their outspread wings, 

 I seemed to be looking upon one of the deepest mysteries of 

 flight, and I waited until they were mere specks in the sky. 



One often sees the Kestrel soaring, but it is seldom that the 

 opportunity is given of such a fine view from directly underneath, 

 and I noticed what perfect circles and excellent time was kept by 

 them as they crossed and recrossed one another in their flight 

 skywards. 



One of the prettiest things I ever saw in Birdland was a hen 

 Kestrel teaching her young to fly. They were sitting on the highest 



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