62 
THE KESTREL . 
insects, and it has a remarkably sharp eye for any unfortunate half -fledged bird that may 
have strayed from its -nest, or crippled itself in its first endeavors to fly. It is a terrible foe to 
the reed birds, grackles, and other similar members of the winged race ; hovering continually 
about the crowded flocks, and picking off the stragglers or the weakly at leisure. Sometimes, 
however, the Hawk seems to lose patience, and dashing suddenly into the flock, will bear 
away an unfortunate bird from the midst of its companions. It has derived the name of 
Pigeon Hawk, because it is well known as one of the numerous birds of prey that hover around 
the myriad armies of the Passenger Pigeon, as they make their wonderful migrations which 
have rendered them so famous. 
Further information concerning this bird may be obtained from the pages of Wilson 
and Audubon. 
The last member of this genus which can be separately noticed in the present work is the 
Chicqueba Falcoh, of India. This bird is often trained by the native sportsmen, and employed 
for the purpose of chasing the bustard and similar game. It is not good at an aerial flight, and 
therefore is not used against soaring game ; but when employed in the pursuit of the running 
birds, its peculiar low, skimming flight is admirably adapted to the purpose. In order to 
keep the bustard from taking to wing, a Hawk of another species is trained to fly above the 
quarry and beat it down whenever it endeavors to raise itself into the air and escape by flight. 
This fine bird, which is called the Bbowh Hawk, or Ckeam-Bellied Falcox, by civilized 
men, and the Bebigoba by the natives, is an inhabitant of Van Diemen’s Land and Hew 
South Wales. 
It is a rather sluggish and slow-moving bird, easily obtaining a sufficiency of food, and 
then settling down upon some neighboring tree until the calls of hunger urge it to fresh 
exertions. The principal food of the Brown Hawk 
consists of insects, although it will also eat carrion, 
and kills mice, small birds, lizards, and other crea- 
tures. The land-holding colonists think it to be a 
great pest, because it sometimes picks up a young 
chicken or two ; but in the opinion of Mr. Gould it 
is in reality one of the farmer’s best friends, on 
account of its services in destroying the insect hosts 
with which Australia is overrun. Although it is not 
a gregarious bird, living only in pairs, it may be 
seen assembled in flocks of a hundred or more, 
congregated over the localities where the destructive 
caterpillars most abound. So plentiful is this bird, 
and so sluggish is its character, that they may be 
seen seated in the tall eucalypti, thirty or forty 
occupying a single tree, and all so ill-disposed to 
move that any number of them may be killed with- 
out difficulty. 
The common Kestbel is one of the most fami- 
liar of the European Hawks, being seen in almost 
every part of the country where a mouse, a lizard, 
or a beetle may be found. 
It may be easily distinguished while on the 
wing from any other hawk, by the peculiar manner 
in which it remains poised in air in a single spot, its 
head invariably pointing towards the wind, its tail 
spread, and its wings widely extended, almost as if it were a toy kite raised in the air 
VI y 
KESTREL . — Falco tinnunculus. 
