32 KESTREL. 
and brought off and reared two fine young ones.” 
The nest, which is placed in rocky cliffs on the sea- 
coast, or elsewhere, is also, when it suits the purpose 
of the bird, built on trees, in fact quite as commonly 
as in the former situations; sometimes in the holes of 
trees, or of banks, as also occasionally on ancient ruins, 
the towers of churches, even in towns and cities, both 
in the country, and in London itself; and also in dove- 
cotes. Sometimes the deserted nest of a Magpie, Raven, 
or Jackdaw, or some other of the Crow kind is made 
use of. When built in trees, the nest is composed of 
a few sticks and twigs, put together in a slovenly 
manner, and lined with a little hay, wool, or feathers. 
When placed on rocks, hardly any nest is compiled— 
a hollow in the bare rock or earth serving the’purpose. 
William Thompson, Esq., of Belfast, mentions a curious 
fact of a single female Kestrel having laid and sat on 
four eggs of the natural colour, in the month of April, 
1848, after having been four years in confinement. 
The eggs, which are of an elliptical form, and four 
or five in number; sometimes as many as six—six 
young birds having been found in one nest—are red- 
dish brown, or yellowish brown, more or less speckled 
or marbled over with darker and lighter specks or blots 
of the same, and some even dingy white. Mr. Yarrell 
says that the fifth egg has been known to weigh several 
grains less than either of those previously deposited, 
and it has also less colouring matter spread over the 
shell than the others; both effects probably occasioned 
by the temporary constitutional exhaustion the bird has 
sustained. In the “Zoologist,” page 2596, Mr. J. B. 
Ellman, of Rye, in Sussex, writes, “This year I 
received some eggs of the Kestrel which were rather 
dirty; so after blowing them, I washed them in cold 
