139 
THE KESTREL. 
Fa lco tinnunculus. — Linn.t:us. 
PLATE VIII. 
Falco tinnunculus of authors Kestrel of British orni- 
thologists . — Provincially Windhover, Stonegal. 
The Kestrel is by far the most abundant of 
our Falcons, we may add of all the British 
Raptores ; it is also the most universally dis- 
tributed, and inhabits the most varied localities. 
Ruined buildings are a favourite resting place, 
and the spires or towers of churches,* where it 
roosts and incubates even in the more populous 
towns, free from alarm at the noise or bustle 
beneath. Well wooded lands, in the midst of 
cultivation, and extensive forests, are also its 
breeding places, where the old nest of a carrion 
crow or magpie, is at once adopted as its own. 
* The only place of this kind, in the vicinity of 
Belfast, that I know to be selected for the purpose of 
nidification, is the tower of Ballyleston Church, which, 
of the many edifices of this description in our populous 
neighbourhood, is the only one which contains a set of 
musical bells. — W. Thompson, in Mag. of Zool. and 
Bot. vol. ii. 
