THE KESTREL. 105 



bright twilights, especially those that break up after showers, 

 when the light is given back again by the clear drops upon 

 the leaves, and the larger beetles are numerous on the wing, 

 the kestrel may often be observed not hovering to stoop to 

 the earth, but hawking on the wing. Selby, whose self- 

 observed facts are always worthy of confidence, was among 

 the first to mention its exploits in thinning the numbers of 

 that arch enemy of the lawn and the meadow, the cock- 

 chafer; but it preys equally upon all the larger twilight 

 beetles and on some of the moths, which it clutches with the 

 foot, and conveys to the bill without pausing in its flight. 

 The smallness and distance of its general prey, require a 

 wonderful power and certainty of eye in the kestrel, and as 

 it preys chiefly upon those animals only which man considers 

 as nuisances, and is anxious to destroy, it is less deserving of 

 persecution than any of the other hawks, even from those 

 who are most inconsiderately prone to persecute the whole 

 race. The brightness of its colours, too, and more especially 

 the gracefulness of its motions, render the kestrel a very 

 interesting bird, and the one which of all birds of prey it is 

 perhaps the most pleasant, and certainly the easiest to study. 

 One would be almost tempted to believe that the birds of 

 prey have an instinctive knowledge when, in the pursuit of 

 their prey, they trench on the province of man. The eagle 

 and the jer-falcon never come near human habitations, the 

 peregrine comes rarely, and even the hobby and the merlin 

 are comparatively solitary birds : but the kestrel will come 

 near the dwelling, and if violence be not offered to it, it will 

 hawk about over the lawn or the garden, and assist in the 

 keeping of these. Nature is, indeed, altogether so beautifully 

 arranged, that each creature comes only where it is wanted 

 in order to contribute the most to the harmony and perfection 

 of the whole. 



The LITTLE GREY KESTREL, or red-legged falcon (F. rujipes), 



