' Its down-clad young ones crouchlni! in a little hollow on a ledge in the face of a 



limestone cliff." 



THE KESTREL 



T 



HE Kestrel is called the 

 Windhover in many parts 

 of the country, on account 

 of its peculiar habit of 

 facing the wind and sus- 

 taining itself in the same 

 position for some time by 

 the rapid vibration of its 

 outstretched wings, whilst it scans the 

 ground below in search of food. I have 

 met people who professed that they 

 could not distinguish this bird from 

 the sparrow hawk. If they would 

 remember that the latter bird has longer 

 wings, is brownish grey in hue, instead of 

 reddish brown, and does not fly at any 

 great height or hover in the air, they 

 would have no difficulty in distinguish- 

 ing the one species from the other. 



Many bird lovers express a fear that 

 the Kestrel is growing rare in our 

 country on account of the mistaken 

 zeal of gamekeepers. I can assure them 



that their apprehension is groundless. 

 On a recent railway journey between 

 Liverpool and London I counted no 

 fewer than seven individual birds on 

 one side of the line alone, and on the 

 day his late Majesty King Edward VII. 

 died a friend showed me four old nests 

 belonging to crows or magpies occupied 

 by Kestrels within the radius of a mile 

 in East Essex. 



As a species the Windhover is a com- 

 paratively harmless bird, feeding upon 

 mice, beetles, frogs, and grasshoppers, 

 but individuals will sometimes take to 

 preying upon small birds and the young 

 of lapwings, partridges, and pheasants. 

 During the summer of 1909 I was watch- 

 ing three downling peewits through my 

 glasses when a Kestrel suddenly appeared 

 upon the scene, hovered, and, pouncing, 

 seized one of the unfortunate chicks and 

 carried it off to its down-clad young 

 ones, crouching in a little hollow on a 



