128 THE KEEPERS BOOK 



on going to the spot we picked up the grouse, which 

 died in our hands. The grouse weighed twenty-four 

 ounces. The skin was not broken, but she had a 

 tremendous bruise over the spine." The merlin, as far 

 as my experience goes, breeds on the ground, gener- 

 ally in the bank of a gully in the open. It is asserted 

 that it occasionally breeds in rocks and trees, but 

 this has never come under my observation. 



The kestrel is the most common of our British 

 hawks. He is a pretty object, for who does not love to 

 see him hover ? I am unwilling to shoot kestrels, as 

 in the crop and gizzard of those I have killed I have 

 found that mice, beetles, and caterpillars were usually 

 present. It cannot be denied, however, thatwhen cater- 

 ing for their hungry nestlings, young game are carried 

 off in large numbers. That distinguished naturalist, 

 the late Duke of Argyll, instructed his keepers not 

 to kill kestrels, as they were harmless to game. His 

 Grace, however, changed his mind on the head-keeper 

 showing him the remains of many grouse at a kestrel's 

 nest. When the kestrel makes a practice of visiting 

 a field where pheasants are being reared, he is even 

 worse than the sparrow-hawk. The latter comes at 

 pretty regular intervals, and the keeper can depend 

 upon him coming. Unless he be fired at, he will 

 return to the same part of the field, frequently to the 

 same coop, so that, as a rule, he is easily shot. The 

 kestrel, however, is quite different in his habits. He 

 may come twice within an hour, and perhaps not for 



