154 British Birds, with their Nests and Eccs. 



The Kestrel very commonly laj's its eggs in an old Crow's nest, making no 

 additions to it ; however, Seebohm states that an old Raven's nest from which he 

 took five Kestrel's eggs had been elaborately repaired ; the writer once witnessed 

 a fight between a pair of Kestrels and a pair of Carrion Crows that was maintained 

 for several days for the possession of a nest in a tall hedge-row elm, the victory 

 at last fell to the Crows. Ledges of cliffs overhanging the sea provide a favourite 

 site, where a slight depression scratched in the earth suffices ; so do old ivy-clad 

 buildings and quarries; hollow trees are occasionally made use of ; a friend of the 

 writer's who put an old cask in a tree had it occupied year after year by a pair 

 of Kestrels ; and the writer has known of two hen Kestrels being joint tenants 

 of the same nest. Kestrels will breed in confinement, but will show the vitiated 

 instincts superinduced b}^ their unnatural state by devouring their young. 



The eggs, which are not laid until sometime in May, are from four to seven 

 in number, and vary greatly in their markings ; the average type has a reddish 

 ground, spotted and blotched with brick red ; other eggs are handsomely marked 

 with blotches of purple-red on a reddish ground, and resemble miniature eggs of 

 the Honey-Buzzard ; others have a few large blotches of dark red on a white 

 ground ; others are ochreous-white with numerous minute dark spots, and are not 

 to be distinguished from typical eggs of the Hobby ; indeed the beautiful varieties 

 of the eggs of the Kestrel are among the joys of the oologist ; in shape they are 

 subovate, varying much in size, and measure from I'dj to i'42 inches, by from 

 i"36 to i"2 inches. Of the nine eggs figured upon plate xii, seven are taken from 

 the writer's cabinet; the pretty variety with the lilac shell markings, No. Ti;^^,, is 

 from an egg in the possession of Mr. Frohawk ; the very abnormal round egg, 

 No. 337, was found with two others of the usual size in the tower of Leverton 

 Church, Lincolnshire, by the Rev. W. Wright Mason. 



The Kestrel is found throughout the whole of the Palsearctic Region, migrating 

 in the autumn in large flocks into Central Africa, some few going as far south as 

 Damaraland, where, during the winter, they feed chiefly upon locusts. 



Gatke says that the Kestrel visits Heligoland in great numbers, and is known 

 to the islanders as the Beetle Hawk, arriving in March, x^pril, and May, on its 

 northward flight ; young birds appear first on the return migration about the 

 middle of August, followed by old birds throughout September and October. 



The adult male is bluish grey on the head, lower back, and tail ; the tail 

 has a broad subterminal band of black, with a white tip ; on the head are some 

 dark shaft streaks ; the rest of the upper parts are pale bufiish red, with small 

 triangular spots of black ; wings blackish-brown, with lighter edges ; breast and 

 bell}' pale fawn colour ; dark streaks on the former and dark spots on the latter ; 



