VOL. XIV.] BREEDING OF LESSER KESTREL. 178 



perhaps the little hawk is prompted by the same reason that 

 causes the sportsman to sling his ducks over the barrel of 

 his gun, when returning home, although there may be ample 

 room in his game bag! 



Sometimes a hen bird could be seen sitting complacently 

 on a twig while the male was foraging for food. This obtained, 

 the male would feed its mate with great solicitude, she greeting 

 him on each arrival with a prolonged call. In the case of a 

 lizard being brought — always in the feet — the male would 

 transfer it to its beak just before alighting beside the female. 

 The female would take a good bite or, rather, pull. The male 

 would then transfer the remaining portion of the reptile to 

 its feet again and take wing. It would then fly round the 

 trees several times, indulge in a few aerial evolutions, and 

 then deliver the remaining piece of lizard to the female. 

 The fact of the hen bird being fed by the male when not 

 actually on the nest seems particularly interesting. 



This hawk has a partiality for short nocturnal flights. 

 In the middle of the night a single bird would swoop from 

 under a roof and gambol about for some time round the 

 trees — making use of the usual call-note meanwhile — and 

 then return to the nest ; a sitting bird just stretching its 

 wings for a short time. 



Sometimes at noon, when it was very hot and sultry, there 

 would be myriads of midges and other pests humming about 

 in the air. Then perhaps sixty or more Kestrels would flock 

 together and hunt the insects with many downward swoops 

 and pursuing flutters. The normal behaviour of the Lesser 

 Kestrel in the air, i.e., when not indulging in the Sv/allow-like 

 lapses just described, is very like that of the larger Kestrel. 

 Maybe the smaller species does not hover so often or so long, 

 but it certainly does hover and in true Kestrel style. With 

 quivering wings and tail bent down to its fullest extent, feet 

 drawn up, and head and neck inclined downwards, eagerly 

 scanning the earth, the Lesser Kestrel will remain poised 

 practically stationary. Very often when a bird was hovering 

 at a convenient height, and against a good background, I 

 would gaze fixedly at it for some time to try and determine 

 how much a Kestrel does deviate from its course when 

 hovering. It was easy to get the tip of the tail to coincide 

 with a dark speck in the clouds, or perhaps the head with a 

 narrow rift in the blue sky, and unless the bird changed 

 position, obviously with intent, it would not shift a degree 

 from its position. After a spell of hovering there may be 

 a short sail, a make-belief swoop, a few flaps of the wings. 



