62 



THE KESTREL. 



insects, and it has a remarkably sharp eye for any unfortunate half-fledged bird that may 

 have strayed from its nest, or crij^pled itself in its first endeavors to fly. It is a terrible foe to 

 the reed birds, grackles, and other similar members of the winged race ; hovering continually 

 about the crowded flocks, and picking off the stragglers or the weakly at leisure. Sometimes, 

 however, the Hawk seems to lose patience, and dashing suddenly into the flock, will bear 

 away an unfortunate bird from the midst of its companions. It has derived the name of 

 Pigeon Hawk, because it is w-ell known as one of the numerous birds of prey that hover around 

 the myi-iad armies of the Passenger Pigeon, as they make their wonderfid migrations which 

 have rendered them so famous. 



Further information concerning this bird may be obtained from the pages of Wilson 

 and Audubon. 



The last member of this genus which can he separately noticed in the present work is the 

 ChicquePvA Falcon, of India. This biid is often trained by the native sj^ortsmen, and employed 

 for the puqiose of chasiug the bustard and similar game. It is not good at an aerial flight, and 

 therefore is not used against soaring game ; but ivhen employed in tlie j)ursuit of the running 

 birds, its peculiar low, skimming flight is admirably adapted to the purpose. In order to 

 keep the bustard from taking to wing, a Hawk of another species is trained to fly above the 

 quarry and beat it down whenever it endeavors to raise itself into the air and escape by flight. 



This fine bird, wliich is called the Brown^ Hawk, or Creaji-Bellied Falcon, by civilized 

 men, and the Beeigora by the natives, is an inhabitant of Van Diemen's Land and New 

 South Wales. 



It is a rather sluggish and slow-moving Ijird, easily obtaining a sufficiency of food, and 

 then settling dowoi upon some neighboring tree until the calls of hunger urge it to fresh 



exertions. The principal food of the Brown Hawk 

 consists of insects, although it will also eat carrion, 

 and kills mice, small birds, lizards, and other crea- 

 tures. The land-holding colonists think it to be a 

 great pest, because it sometimes picks up a young 

 chicken or two ; but in the opinion of Mr. Gould it 

 is in reality one of the farmer's best friends, on 

 account of its services in destroying the insect hosts 

 with which Australia is overrun. Although it is not 

 a gregarious bird, living only in pairs, it may be 

 seen assembled in flocks of a hundred or more, 

 congregated over the localities where the destructive 

 catei-pillars most abound. So plentiful is this bird, 

 and so sluggish is its character, that they may be 

 seen seated in the tall eucalypti, thirty or forty 

 occup;vang a single tree, and all so ill-disposed to 

 move that any number of them may be kiUed with- 

 out difiiculty. 



The common Kestrel is one of the most fami- 

 liar of the European Hawks, being seen in almost 

 every part of the country where a mouse, a lizard, 

 or a beetle may be found. 



It may be easily distinguished while on the 

 wing from any other hawk, by the peculiar manner 

 in which it remains poised in air in a single spot, its 

 head invariably pointing towards the wind, its tail 

 spread, and its wings widely extended, almost as if it were a toy kite i-aised iu the air 



Fako tiuhxtnculus. 



