THE KESTREL. 35 



thought. I then took a stick and threw it down upon the family, 

 who broke up by fluttering and falling into space till they fairly 

 took wing and glided from me in different directions; so, as they 

 had not touched the plover, I scrambled to the deserted platform 

 and carried it off. It is not likely they would miss it, as I have 

 no doubt that within the next half hour the little rascals were 

 killing their first bird on the adjoining moor. 



THE KESTREL. 



FALCO TINNUNCULUS. 



Clamhan ruadh. 



THE Kestrel is by far the commonest bird of prey in the western 

 counties of Scotland, ranking even more numerously than the 

 merlin in its distribution. It is abundant on all the Hebrides, 

 extending to the outer islands and the uninhabited rocks lying 

 between Harris and St Kilda, where it breeds. The nest in these 

 outlying haunts is generally, if not always, built on a rocky plat- 

 form, the situation resembling the spots usually chosen by the 

 peregrine, and even in cultivated districts I have observed that 

 such a site is oftener chosen than any other. Some eyries which 

 I have seen at a considerable elevation on mountainous tracts were 

 situated in most romantic and picturesque places, oft-times in deep 

 glens and on inaccessible rocks overhanging a. waterfall. Last 

 year I found one about 1800 feet above the sea level, placed at 

 the root of a rowan tree, which grew on the verge of a cliff, over 

 which there poured a beautiful cascade. The nest, which con- 

 tained five eggs, was a simple hollow among withered ferns, 

 and the bird, in sitting upon it, could see the highland burn 

 making a grand leap of thirty feet into the caldron below. 

 Again, in Inchtavanach, one of the finest islands in that most 

 beautiful of all Scottish lakes Loch Lomond there are many 

 nests among the ivy-clad rocks, which are haunted by jackdaws, 

 starlings, and other birds, the whole forming a diversified group, 

 but living in the most perfect harmony, while on almost every 

 steep rock jutting into the lake, from Luss northwards, one or 

 two pairs are constantly to be found in the breeding season. 



This elegant and harmless Falcon is easily tamed from the nest. 

 I have often had young birds in my keeping, and found them not 



