KESTEEL. 95 



these birds are more numerous in the winter than in the 

 summer, and he adds that probably 'like the Merlin, this 

 species merely migrates from the interior to the coast.' And 

 'in the north of Ireland, generally,' says Mr. Thompson, 'Kes- 

 trels seem to be quite as numerous in winter as in summer, 

 in their usual haunts.' 



The Kestrel begins to feed at a very early hour of the 

 morning. It has been known to do so even almost before 

 it was light. Several others of this family, as I have before 

 had occasion to observe, continue the pursuit of their prey 

 until a correspondingly late hour in the evening. 



Other species of Hawk may be seen hovering in a fixed 

 position in the air, for a brief space, the Common Buzzard 

 for instance, but most certainly the action, as performed by 

 the Kestrel, is both peculiar to and characteristic of itself 

 alone, in this kingdom at least. No one who has lived in 

 the country can have failed to have often seen it suspended 

 in the air, fixed, as it were, to one spot, supported by its 

 out-spread tail, and by a quivering play of the wings, more 

 or less perceptible. 



It has been asserted that the Kestrel never hovers at a 

 greater height from the ground than forty feet, but this is 

 altogether a mistake. The very last specimen that I have 

 seen thus poised, which was about a fortnight since, in Wor- 

 cestershire, seemed to me as near as I could calculate its 

 altitude, to be at an elevation of a hundred yards from the 

 ground. I mean, of course, at its first balancing itself, for 

 down, as the species is so often seen to do, it presently 

 stooped, and then halted again, like Mahomet's coffin, 

 between sky and earth, then downwards again it settled, and 

 then yet once again, and then glided off the prey it had 

 aimed at having probably gone under cover of some sort: 

 otherwise it would have dropped at last like a stone upon it, 

 if an animal very probably fascinated, and borne it off im- 

 mediately for its meal. It : ,is a bird of considerable powers 

 of night. Tame Kestrels kept by Mr. John Atkinson, of 

 Leeds, having had their wings cut to prevent their escape, 

 exhibited, he says, great adroitness in climbing trees. 



The food of the Kestrel consists of the smaller animals, 

 such as field mice, and the larger insects, such as grasshoppers, 

 beetles, and caterpillars: occasionally it will seize and destroy 

 a wounded partridge, but when seen hovering over the fields 

 in the peculiar and elegant manner so well illustrated by my 



