9A0 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
Owl. On cIlfFs and rocky hillsides it makes a 
smooth, shallow hollow in the earth of some over- 
hung ledge, or little natural grotto, often half con- 
cealed by roots and vegetation. This hollow is 
lined with no nesting material, but, as time goes on, 
it often becomes covered with the pellets cast up 
by the birds. Four to six eggs are generally laid, 
always of the characteristic red which marks the 
eggs of the whole Falcon family, but differing 
a good deal in appearance. They vary from 
yellowish-white to yellowish-red in ground colour, 
and are sometimes freely splashed and spotted with 
deep reddish-brown, like the variety illustrated, 
while others are thickly freckled all over with 
small specks of rich orange-red, or equally rich 
red-brown. Like other Hawks and Owls, the 
Kestrel does not lay one egg a day, as is the case 
with most other birds, but leaves an interval of 
from two to four days between them. If undis- 
turbed it nests in the same spot, or close to it, for 
many years in succession. 
OSPREY. 
{^Pandion halia'etus.') 
Fishing Hawk, Mullet Hawk. — This fine bird 
is now very rare as a British breeding species, only 
