144 
KESTREL. 
which was kept by that gentleman in the town of 
Belfast, had its freedom, and flew every evening 
to roost in an extensive plantation in the country, 
about a mile distant, in flying to and from which 
it was at first recognized by the sound of the bells 
attached to its legs. This bird returned regularly 
to its town domicile at an early hour in the 
morning.* We should not have considered this 
bird the favourite with the ancient falconer, 
which it appears to have been — boldness of 
temper, and striking game in open chase, being 
contrary to its habits in an unreclaimed Btate. 
In this species there is not so marked a difference 
in the size of the sexes as in some of the birds we 
have been describing. The male varies in length 
from fourteen to fifteen inches, the female from 
about fourteen and a half to fifteen and a half inches. 
In the adult male, the forehead is yellowish, shading 
into bluish grey on the crown, and which is con- 
tinued upon the back and sides of the neck and 
on the cheeks ; on the latter the tint is darker, 
and from the corners of the gape assumes the 
shape of the dark streak which is so conspicu- 
ous in most of the real falcons. On the head and 
back of neck each feather is narrowly streaked 
on the centre with blackish grey, and a purplish 
tint pervades the whole. The back, greater and 
* Mag. of Zool. and Bot. ii. p. 57. 
