24 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xm. 



he gives a surprising display of agility on the wing. Though 

 not with the same easy grace, he can apparently match any 

 manoeuvre of the Kestrel's. The chase is not always short 

 and desultory either. On two occasions, first near Bapaume 

 and two years later near Etaples, I was the witness of a most 

 determined and sustained attack. The course of it was so 

 similar in the two cases as almost to suggest a game with 

 recognized rules. The birds flew at a good height and roughly 

 in a circle, the diameter of the circle being something like a 

 mile. Most of the way round the course the Carrion-Crow 

 was pressing hotly, and it often looked as though the Kestrel 

 was only dodging its swoops with difhculty. But towards 

 the end of the flight the Crow, on each occasion, seemed to 

 content itself with keeping abreast of the Hawk on the inside. 

 It looked then as if the Hawk might easily have escaped but 

 was deterred by something in the rules. After half a mile or 

 so of this there was a sudden and sensational change — a 

 wild plunge at a steep angle into a group of trees. It was 

 thrilling enough even on the Kestrel's part, but to see the 

 Crow respond instantly with a precisely similar plunge hard 

 in the wake of the Hawk was a sight to make one disbelieve 

 one's eyes. Both times the Hawk gained the trees just in 

 time, and the Crow sheered off. 



On such occasions as this it is possible that the Hawk is 

 carrying something which the Crow hopes to make it drop. 

 Anyhow, it seemed as if the two birds were agreed that a 

 certain clump of trees should constitute the base of the 

 action, and that it was the Crow's business to prevent the 

 Hawk from reaching it. The more casual chases that one 

 ordinarily sees have such a matter-of-course air that I can 

 hardly believe there is a motive of robbery in them every 

 time. 



The persecution of the Kestrels seems to be carried on more 

 zealously by Carrion-Crows than by any other birds, but 

 Hooded Crows (C. comix), Rooks and Starlings {SUirnus 

 vulgaris) all take part in it pretty frequently. At any rate 

 between Kestrels and Rooks, however, there is sometimes 

 a truce. Not far from Arras in 1917 a pair of Kestrels had 

 their nest in the middle of a good-sized rookery, and though 

 they were noisy and much in evidence the Rooks showed no 

 resentment. When Starlings attack a Kestrel they do it as 

 a flock and the Kestrel usually takes refuge in a tree, but one 

 such chase that I was watching ended ignominiously in the 

 Kestrel throwing itself into the grass of a hayfield. 



I do not remember to have seen either Crows or Starlings 



