1G8 THE BIEDS OF DEVOX. 



of 18G7. AuotI;er we know of was sliot at Fordingbridge, in the Xew 

 Forest, in Januaiy 1877. 



We know of no instance of the Eed-footed Falcon in either Somerset or 

 Dorset, hut we have notes of three occurrences on the opposite side of the 

 Uristol Channel, in Pembrokesliire. 



Kestrel. Timiuncuhis cdaiidarius (Gm.). 



[Windfanner, Windhover, Criss Hawk, Crassct Hawk : Dev.'\ 



Eesident ; generally distribntod, and tolerably common. Its numbers 

 are sometimes greatly increased in autumn, as in 8e})teniber l'6't'^^ (J. Gr., 

 Zool. Ibl'-i, p. 378). It breeds on the cliffs in suitable places all along 

 the sea-coasts of the county and in the sides of quarries. Some very small 

 examples have come under the notice of Mr. Henry Nicholls at Kingsbridge 

 (E.A.S.E.). 



This beautiful little Falcon is the commonest of the Hawk family in our 

 Western Counties. He may be seen everywhere. On the coast there is 

 hardly a cliff without him. Inland he is equally numerous, and in any 

 country walk or drive he maj* be met with, poised in the air and scanning 

 the ground beneath him for a meal. Beetles of various kinds, especially 

 the common dor-beetle, and mice, with an occasional small bird, form his 

 usual diet, and we have seen him searching the dry grass, and plunging 

 into it, after t'lpula', the "daddy long-legs." At the nesting-time the 

 requirements of a small family make him more rapacious, and a Ivestrers 

 nest then becomes a source of peril to any Pheasants' coops which may be 

 near. Nearly all the young Pheasants at Gidleigh Park were carried off 

 one season by Kestrels, which used to swoop so suddenly upon the coops 

 that they would get away with their prey before the keeper, who was 

 waiting in ambush, had a chance of a shot. Ent we believe that this is the 

 only time of the j-ear that Kestrels do any injury to the game-preserver. 

 In hard weather we have seen Kestrels attack and kill Starlings, and, no 

 doubt, at a season when their ordinary insect-food is scarce, they are driven 

 to feed more largely on small birds. But in many that we have dissected, 

 even in the winter-time, we have only found the elytra of dor-beetles in 

 their gizzards. Mr. (jatcombe mentions that a slow- worm was found in the 

 stomach of a Kestrel (Zool. 1887, p. 137G). The Kestrel is a very docile 

 and entertaining pet in confinement. One we had for a long time was 

 brought lip in his infancy with a kitten for playmate, and many a game at 

 hide-and-seek did they have together on our lawn, pouncing out on one 

 another from l)ehind the geraniums in the tlower-beds. Wlien wearied with 

 their sport they would generallj- be found sleeping side by side *. When 



* Their favourite resting-place was proyided by the ladder going up into the liav- 

 loft ; on one of the steps would be the Ilawk, and the cat would be found on the step 

 either iiinnediatelj- above or below. One morning we observed an old torn cat of the 

 establishment occupying an upper step; just under hiiu sat the Kestrel; benenth again 

 was the cat who was his special friend and playmate ; aiid with Iiis liind legs resting 

 on the ground, and his fore feet placed on the same rung on which this last cat 

 was aslee[), was " Toby," the pet terrier, who regarded the Kestrel and the cats with a 

 devoted friendship. 



