180 



KESTRIL. 



being rather broader than the rest. It is said that 

 the male bird scarcely differs from the female in 

 plumage during its first and second year. 



The Kestril is a*very common inhabitant of our 

 own country, and in clear weather is very frequent- 

 ly observed in the state so well described by Mr. 

 Pennant, viz. "fixed^ as it were, in one place, and 

 fanning the air with its wings.'* At such times it 

 is intent on its prey below, which frequently con- 

 sists of the different species of field-mice, frogs, 

 &c. It also preys oq birds, and such is the violence 

 with which it sometimes directs its horizontal flight, 

 either in avoiding some more powerful enemy of 

 its own tribe, or in the ardent pursuit of distant 

 prey, that it has been known to break through a 

 pane of glass, and fall stunned into the middle of 

 a room in which were two opposite windows*. 

 It has been often trained to the pursuit of the 

 smaller kind of game, and is said to have been 

 excellent in the chace of partridges and quails, and 

 sometimes even of pheasants. It usually breeds 

 either in tall trees, the hollows of rocks, or of lofty 

 towers and ruins, and lays four eggs, similar in 

 colour to those of the Ring-Tail. The best figures 

 of the Kestril are those in the folio edition of the 

 British Zoology, 



* Such an event I remember to have happened ^ and it was 

 supposed that some pigeons on the opposite side might have 

 occasioned the Hawk's mistake. 



