96 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



the last time I saw him. He thrust his arm into a 

 rabbit-stop without previous scrutiny, and an old 

 stoat fixed him by the hand. 



The only hawks now commonly seen at least, in 

 North Hampshire are kestrels and sparrow-hawks, 

 though I did see two marsh-harriers. I averaged 

 for ten years on the same ground three nests of 

 kestrels and two of sparrow-hawks, and they never 

 did any noticeable damage to the game. Still, very 

 occasionally a pair of kestrels with a family to 

 provide for will discover that a field full of helpless 

 young pheasants provides an easy solution to their 

 catering difficulties. Then you cannot blame a 

 keeper for taking preventive steps ; otherwise, 

 apart from the breaking of the law, kestrels ought 

 to be preserved. Nor do sparrow-hawks inflict 

 damage on game to a degree anything like pro- 

 portionate to the zeal with which their destruction 

 is sought ; though they, like kestrels, are liable to 

 play the duece with young game-birds when they 

 do set about them. 



Sparrow-hawks possess the habit, so often fatal 

 to themselves, of returning again and again to the 

 same part of a rearing-field, even to the same coop ; 

 whereas kestrels will swoop on a bird in any part, 

 and so render their invasions much more difficult to 

 terminate than those of the sparrow-hawk. By way 

 of compensation, perhaps, kestrels are not liable to 

 take game-birds except when they are small ; sparrow- 



