359 



THE KESTREL. 

 (Falco tinnunculus . ) 



THE Kestrel also has a beautiful flight ; but it is not able 

 to catch small birds when on the wing. It is a master 

 in the art of remaining in one spot in the air, with a 

 very slight apparent motion of the wings. It stops 

 suddenly in its flight at about the height of an ordinary 

 church tower, bends its spread tail stiffly downwards and 

 beats rapidly with its wings. It often poises itself in 

 this way over meadows, cornfields and moorlands, and 

 marks with its brown, sharp eyes any mouse or marmot 

 that slips out of its hole. Sometimes it finds a brood 

 of young birds, and these it does not spare. Crickets, 

 grasshoppers and lizards also fall a prey to this hunter, 

 but mice form its chief diet, and for this reason the bird 

 is useful. When it has caught sight of its prey from a 

 height in the air it suddenly closes its wings and drops, 

 but when quite near the ground it spreads them again, 

 and thus picks up its victim. It eats the smaller insects 

 out of its claws while flying ; but larger prey it carries to 

 a quiet spot. Its twittering cry is often heard; it sounds 

 like " Klee, klee, klee." It leaves Hungary in severe 

 winters. The Kestrel is the most numerous of the birds 

 of prey in that country, where it is quite at home, even 

 in the rush and noise of towns. 



The Kestrel is commonly known as the Wind-hover, 

 on account of its habit of hanging motionless in the 

 air against the wind. It has a very graceful flight. 

 This Falcon is quite the commonest of the British birds 

 of prey, and we should have still more of these useful 



