THE BIRDS USED IN HAWKING 29 



Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 



Female — Length, about 1 3 inches ; wing, 9 ; tail, 7. Male 

 — Length, about 12 inches; wing, 8J; tail, 6\. 



Females and young males have the upper plumage reddish 

 brown, transversely barred on the shoulders, wing coverts, and 

 tail with black ; the flight feathers, blackish brown ; the under 

 plumage, very pale fawn colour, streaked on the breast, and 

 splashed on the lower part with brown. Adult males have the 

 head, lower part of the back, and upper surface of tail, light 

 slatey grey. The tail with a broad black band near the end, and 

 tipped with white ; and the head with dark shaft-streaks ; the 

 shoulders, upper back, and upper wing coverts, pale chestnut, 

 with small black spots of a triangular shape. The wings, dark 

 horn colour, with lighter edging. The under plumage, pale 

 fawn colour, becoming more rufous at the lower part and on 

 the thighs ; streaked with dark brown splashes on the breast, 

 and spots on the abdomen. The cere, feet, and legs are pale 

 greyish yellow in the young, and brighter in the adult. 



This little hawk has, structurally, all the characteristics of 

 what the naturalists call a true falcon — more so, in fact, than 

 the more highly reputed merlin. Its shape, indeed, but for a 

 want of size in the feet and a somewhat exaggerated length of 

 tail, is very symmetrical, and indicative of fine flying powers. 

 It is the least shy and most familiar of all European hawks, 

 and survives in tolerably large numbers throughout England, 

 where, together with the owls, it is a chief agent in keeping 

 down the inordinate increase of mice. Its powers of flight are 

 very considerable ; and it remains on the wing generally for a 

 considerable part of the day, not soaring so much as beating the 

 ground at a height of two or three score feet, and hovering from 

 time to time with its eye on any small creature that may be 

 moving about or hiding in the grass below. But notwithstand- 

 ing its fine proportions, its muscular power is not great, and its 

 extreme pace is not to be compared with that of the merlin. If 

 pursued by a fairly good peregrine in a pretty open place, it 

 frequently succumbs. 



In the field a kestrel is of no practical use. It will indeed 

 generally take sparrows and other small birds thrown up from 

 the hand when it is waiting on. And instances have been 

 known where it has flown and taken a few wild birds. There 

 is even a story extant of an eyess kestrel which was flown at 

 a young partridge and took it. But these facts, if true, must 

 have been entirely exceptional. As a rule the trained kestrel 



