96 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
the last time I saw him. He thrust his arm into a 
rabbit-stop without previous scrutiny, and an old 
stoat fixed him by the hand. 
The only hawks now commonly seen—at least, in 
North Hampshire—are kestrels and sparrow-hawks, 
though I did see two marsh-harriers. I averaged 
for ten years on the same ground three nests of 
kestrels and two of sparrow-hawks, and they never 
did any noticeable damage to the game. Still, very 
occasionally a pair of kestrels with a family to 
provide for. will discover that a field full of helpless 
young pheasants provides an easy solution to their 
catering difficulties. Then you cannot blame a 
keeper for taking preventive steps; otherwise, 
apart from the breaking of the law, kestrels ought 
to be preserved. Nor do sparrow-hawks inflict 
damage on game to a degree anything like pro- 
portionate. to.the zeal with which their destruction 
is sought ; though they, like kestrels, are liable to 
play the duece with young game-birds when they 
do set about them. 
Sparrow-hawks possess the habit, so often fatal 
to themselves, of returning again and again to the 
same part of a rearing-field, even to the same coop ; 
whereas kestrels will swoop on a bird in any part, 
and so render their invasions much more difficult to 
terminate than those of the sparrow-hawk. By way 
of compensation, perhaps, kestrels are not liable to 
take game-birds except when they are small ; sparrow- 
