Birds. - 1 : 



possession a kestrel, which inhabits a large cage in common with a 

 pair of nng-doves, and a pair of Surat doves ; and. not only does he 

 share their lodging very amicably, but occasionally dines also with 

 them, it may be for sociability's sake, it certainly is not to satisfy the 

 cravings of hunger, and helps himself, apparently with much satis- 

 faction, to a portion, and a pretty large one too, of their boiled 

 potato. One morning he was seen, though not by myself, break- 

 fasting on their barley and peas. But I do not infer therefrom that 

 the kestrel, when wild, eats either boiled potato or barley. My tame 

 pheasants will eat mice ; and one hen bird will try to catch them for 

 herself; but I much doubt whether the pheasant is carnivorous when 

 wild in the woods. I have known a dormouse devour a portion of 

 his companion that had died during the night — I have heard of the 

 little harvest mouse doing the same. Mr. Waterton has given us an 

 Essay, showing, as do all his writings, the extent of his observations, 

 and their general accuracy, wherein he refutes the notion of squirrels 

 being carnivorous, because a solitary fellow in confinement demolish- 

 ed a small bird. 



If we could know for certainty what is the natural food of any 

 given animal, we must examine the contents of the stomach of indi- 

 viduals killed in their natural haunts ; and even then, we must pro- 

 ceed with caution. A perfectly credible witness, no other than R. 

 Loe, told me of his having once killed a kestrel whose crop was full 

 of earth-worms, and that they actually crawled out of the mouth of 

 the dead bird. This is what I should not have expected ; nor do I 

 consider one such instance enough to establish the habit as belonging 

 to the species : because some peculiar circumstances may have 

 induced this particular bird to resort to an unnatural diet. But if 

 two or three such instances were to occur, I should consider the habit 

 as established ; and place the earthworm in the dietary of the 

 kestrel ; because I do not think that a bird in a natural state could 

 be induced, except by pressure of extreme hunger, or from ill health, 

 to make a meal on what was not its natural food. When so pressed, 

 some birds will doubtless have recourse to what they would not touch 

 under ordinary circumstances. The ring-dove, during severe and 

 protracted frost, feeds voraciously on the tubers of the wood anemone; 

 and the pheasant, when food becomes scarce, will, on the testimony 

 of R. Loe — and I require no better, — fill its crop with the little para- 

 sitic plant found on the back of the oak-leaf. Stiil this plant, and 

 the tuber of the anemone, are akin to the ordinary food of these 

 birds : neither is the earth-worm far removed from that of the 



Vol. hi. 2p 



