ABOUT THE KESTREL 91 



interesting to note that the Buzzard should so carefully prepare young rabbits, 

 whilst the Kestrel does not trouble about plucking anything but feathered quarry. 



Instead of returning to the marshes as before, the male Kestrel came and 

 perched on a branch just over the nest a few yards from where I was sitting — 

 and an exceedingly beautiful bird he was, with his slate-blue head, almost plum- 

 coloured back, and blue-grey tail. He was very httle smaller than the female, 

 smarter in bearing, and perhaps closer-feathered. 



Some six days later I again visited the young Kestrels, and again they had 

 undergone a metamorphosis. Now the woolly coats of their youth were 

 exchanged for the sleek, perfectly fitting feathers that were coming down so 

 rapidly, whilst they had also acquired the fierce, eager expressions of the old 

 birds. 



The only noticeably youthful characteristic about them now was the 

 little white downy tuft that still adhered to the top of each of their heads, and 

 which imparted to them an almost judicial appearance. 



And their fierce expressions did not in any way belie their subsequent 

 actions, for when the call of the male heralded a fresh supply of food, the young 

 hawks developed such a state of noisy excitement as would suggest that they 

 experienced difficulty in containing themselves in their efforts to be first at the 

 psychological moment. 



And, as before, the female suddenly alighted on the nest ; and left with them 

 the partially plucked body of a young thrush. But now no lethargy, no lack 

 of initiative is apparent among the eager family. Useless is it for the one who 

 has secured the prize to try to shield it from the rest of the family. Now it is 

 every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost. 



First one and then another drags the body of the unhappy thrush from the 

 clutches of brothers and sisters, whilst mouthfuls are snatched by those who 

 happen to see a convenient portion protruding from under quivering tail or 

 wing. 



Eventually the whole family are tightly packed on the meal, each one 

 it seems endeavouring to eat his fill before the others have finished everything 

 up. 



In the end there proved to be more than they could manage ; although 

 even then the one who had got possession of the remains seemed loth to let 

 them go, and prepared to drag them after him as he walked backwards round the 

 nest. 



The flight feathers of the young hawks were now so far developed that 

 when they exercised their wings they were able to raise themselves from the 

 nest ; in fact, one of them during an unusually strenuous bout of wing-testing 

 held firmly to the side of the nest with his feet, so that he should not be carried 

 away by his enthusiasm. 



I am inclined to think that when I next witnessed the bringing of food to 



