THE LITTLE FALCON. 



63 



by artificial means, and preserved in the same spot by the trammels of a string. While 

 hanging thus strangely suspended in the air, its head is bent downwards, and its keen 

 eyes glance restlessly in every direction, watching every blade of grass beneath its ken, and 

 shooting down with unerring certainty of aim upon any unhappy field-mouse that may be 

 foolish enough to poke his red face out of his hole while the Kestrel is on the watch. The 

 marvellous powers of the Kestrel's eye may be easily imagined by any one who has any experi- 

 ence of the field-mouse and the extreme difficulty of seeing the little creature while it is creep- 

 ing among the grass straws. Its ruddy coat blends so well with the mold, and the grass 

 blades bend so slightly under the pressure of its soft fur, that an unpractised eye would fail 

 to detect the mouse even if its precise locality were pointed out. 



The number of held-mice consumed by this hawk is very great, for it is hardly possible 

 to open the stomach of a Kestrel without finding the remains of one or more of these destructive 

 little animals. On account of its mouse-eating propensities, the Kestrel is a most useful bird 

 to the farmer, who in his ignorance confounds all hawks together, and shoots the Kestrel 

 because the kite steals his cliickens. 



Another species, which belongs to the same genus as the kestrel, is the Ked-footed 



{Tinnunculus vespertinus), having its usual residence in 



Falcon or Ingkian Falcon 

 Austria, Russia, and Poland. 

 Specimens have also been taken 

 in Athens, Nepal, and Tunis, 

 so that the species seem to have 

 a very extensive range of coun- 

 try. It goes through consider- 

 able changes of tinting before 

 its plumage attains the adult 

 colors, but the full-grown bird 

 may readily be distinguished 

 from the common kestrel by 

 the legs and toes, which are of 

 a reddish flesh-tint, instead of 

 the yellow hire- which is found 

 in the former bird. The claws, 

 too, instead of being black, are 

 yellowish-wdrite, deepening into 

 a grayish-brown on the tips. 



Among other members of 

 the same genus, we may notice 

 the Little Falcon {Tinnun- 

 culus sparverius) of America, 

 an interesting account of which 

 bird may be found in the pages 

 of "Wilson's American Orni- 

 thology." Its habits are very 

 similar to those of the common 

 kestrel, and, like that bird, it 

 preys chiefly on mice, lizards, 

 grasshoppers, and the larger 



insects. It will, however, attack and carry off chickens and the young of other birds during 

 the breeding-season. Its nest is always made on some elevated situation, and is generally 

 found on the top of a lofty tree, although the bird sometimes builds upon rocks, in the crev- 

 ices of towers, or even in the hollows of trees. 



RED-FOOTED FALCON .—Fali-o vespertinus. 



