THE KESTKEL. 57 



observations will not apply to those in Scotland, whence Mr. Mac- 

 gillivray had specimens, as he informs us they contained the 

 remains of birds of various species, though mice are considered by 

 him to be the chief food of this hawk (p. 331). Nor will the 

 observations quoted apply to Ireland, where, judging from the 

 stomachs that I have examined, and other means of knowledge, 

 mice constitute but a small portion of the kestrel's food ; 

 still, for what the species does kill of these vermin, its life 

 should be preserved, and not sacrificed, as it is by every game- 

 keeper.* 



Of four birds examined by me in 1838, as to their food ; the 

 first contained the remains of a young hare or rabbit ; the second 

 (killed in the middle of December), insects only, consisting of 

 three dor-beetles of a small species ( Geotrupes vernalis ?) and the 

 elytra of a Carabus, or common "clock;" — the third was filled 

 with the remains of a bird ; the fourth (in April) wholly with 

 beetles (Coleoptera), and the larvae of insects. Mr. J. R. Garrett 

 states that to his house near Belfast, the gable of which being 

 covered with ivy was consequently the resort of many sparrows, 

 a kestrel came almost daily at sunset, when these birds had col- 

 lected together to roost, and always captured one of them, after 

 which exploit the locality was not revisited on that day.f A 

 kestrel, observed by the same gentleman hovering in summer 

 above a mountain tarn, was shot by him, and "in its stomach 



* The keeper at Hillsborough Park (co. Down) remarked, when robbing a nest of 

 five young, in the last week of May, 1848, then twelve days out, that it contained a 

 couple of mice. The down with which the young are covered is white, but when 

 viewed en masse, of a light sandy-coloured tinge ; their irides are bluish-black. These 

 birds were produced in the old nest of a magpie. 



f This is quite a counterpart to the sparrow-hawk described by Mr. Waterton 

 (under Kestrel), as frequently bearing off one of the inmates of the starling tower at 

 Walton Hall. Dr. Burkitt of Waterford, remarks, in a letter to me, that " the 

 boldness of some hawks, when in pursuit of prey, is truly astonishing. I recollect 

 one evening in the summer of 1835, being struck by the appearance of a sparrow 

 which alighted in a myrtle within two yards of me, and hopped backwards and for- 

 wards within a space of about eight or ten inches, evidently in a state of extreme 

 terror. For the few moments that it continued thus, my attention was exclusively 

 attracted by its most peculiar motions, but almost at the same instant I felt as if 

 something brushed my head (my hat being off at the time), and before I could turn 

 to ascertain the cause, a female kestrel dashed at the sparrow and bore it off." This, 

 as well as what is mentioned above, seems rather the act of a sparrow-hawk than a 



