178 pkesident's addeess. 



enable them to struggle with privation. They cannot be fed 

 with corn, since all the rooks of the country would come. But 

 still they are thus far artificially sustained, although by means 

 of hay-seeds not expressly intended for them. 



"We have succeeded in protecting such nests of kestrels as oc- 

 cur annually at Hedgeley. The young are safely reared, and, 

 we find, take their departure after a very short sojourn with 

 their parents. All the young of the year migrate in their first 

 autumn, though the old birds may occasionally be seen in win- 

 ter. The Club will be surprised to hear that this species is 

 parasitical on the sparrow-hawk, so long as the latter is catering 

 for its own ravenous young in the nest. I would not have be- 

 lieved this, had I not seen it day after day, a few years ago. 

 A single kestrel was rarely absent from the top of a tall larch 

 just over the nest of a pair of sparrow-hawks, which was placed 

 midway up a Scotch fir close adjoining. On the ground below 

 were the usual melancholy records of indiscriminate destruction 

 by the parent sparrow-hawks. Eemains of blackbirds, thrushes, 

 young pheasants, young wood-pigeons, an old peewit or two. 

 Inside the nest six ravenous young furies. I would not allow 

 the dam to be taken, nor her mate, being mindful of the noble 

 injunction in Deuteronomy, the first and best of legislation on 

 such subjects. But there was no choice but to wring the necks 

 that called forth all this murderous activity — those of the vora- 

 cious young inmates of the nest. 



The kestrel too had unquestionably robbed the larder when- 

 ever he saw an opportunity, and carried off the spoils to his own 

 mate and young, instead of going to hunt for mice. In fact, he 

 is a general parasite. 



One day I observed a kestrel hovering an unusual time in one 

 place — so long, that curiosity led me to walk towards the spot. 

 Ere long I perceived a cat with a live mouse on a gravel walk. 

 This scene was the kestrel's attraction. He was hovering till 

 the cat should give him an opportunity to stoop and sweep the 

 mouse away from her for his own benefit. A tame kestrel will 

 face a cat without fear, which is surprising enough. 



The merlin always visits Hedgeley in spring and autumn. 



