ORDER ACCIPITRES. "201 



merlin is very great, and it attacks birds larger than itself, as 

 partridges, and often kills them. It remains with us only 

 during the winter, though some have averred that it has been 

 known to breed here. It is met with on the continent of 

 Europe, but no where very common, and seems to be perpe- 

 tually changing place. 



The Kestrel is a bird very common in almost all parts of 

 Europe : it frequents the open country, woods, old towers, 

 and destroys a great number of small birds ; it frequently 

 darts on partridges and field-mice ; also common mice, frogs, 

 and even insects form a portion of its nutriment. The female 

 is bolder, and less wild than the male, and will come into 

 gardens, and close to habitations. These birds hover at very 

 great elevations, describing a circle, and sustain themselves 

 for a long time in the same place by beating the air with their 

 wings in an almost insensible motion. They repeat, fre- 

 quently, and with a sharp sound, a cry resembling the syllables 

 pri, pri^ pri. When they perceive their prey, they dart upon 

 it with the directness and rapidity of an arrow. If they do 

 not succeed in destroying it at the first attack, they continue to 

 pursue it with extreme velocity and inveterate perseverance. 

 They deplume the birds before they feed upon them ; but 

 they swallow the small mammifera with their skin, which they 

 disgorge afterwards through the beak. 



Though they are often seen in the neighbourhood of old 

 towers and ruined buildings, they most usually nestle in the 

 woods on the loftiest trees, or in the cavities of such as have 

 been perforated : their nests consist of twigs and roots inter- 

 mingled ; sometimes they even content themselves with the old 

 nests of crows. The female lays from five to six eggs, of a 

 ferruginous colour, pale, and marked with deeper spots, irre- 

 gularly distributed, and of different forms and sizes. The 

 young are at first fed with insects, and afterwards with flesh 

 brought by the parents. 



Considerable variations take place in the plumage of this 



P 



