THE EAGLE 



239 



There is a reason for this, for the bird's eyes would be in 

 the greatest danger every time a victim was approached were 

 the beaks used in the attack; and further, the bird would lose 

 the advantage of fully seeing its victim. So it is more natural 

 for birds of prey to 

 kill with their talons 

 than with their beaks. 

 Their beaks are 

 hooked for the pur- 

 pose of rending their 

 victims when they are 

 killed. 



The kestrel prefers 

 mice to any other 

 food, and is so quick 

 in catching sight of 

 them, and so clever 

 in seizing them, that 

 every day it kills a 

 great many. 



The bird is, therefore, a very good friend to the farmer, who 

 would lose his corn if the mice were not destroyed. Of all our 

 British birds there is scarcely one which is more valuable than 

 the kestrel. It has been calculated that every kestrel, during 

 the ten months of the year which it spends in England, destroys 

 the enormous number of ten thousand mice! 



Kestrel with Mouse 



THE EAGLE (Sub-family Aquiline) 



From the Kestrels we pass naturally to the Eagle family, the 

 Aquilinae, which includes the Honey-buzzards, Kites, Eagles proper, 

 and certain of the Hawks and Harriers, with some less well-known 

 genera. 



The eagle is sometimes called the King of Birds, just as the 

 lion is called the King of Beasts. And, in fact, the eagle among 

 birds is very much what the lion is among mammals. It is a 



