recorded in the ‘ Zoologist ’ by the Rev. H. H. Crewe, of Breadsall Rectory, Derbyshire : — “ About four 
years ago my children procured a young male Kestrel, which, when able to fly, I persuaded them to give its 
liberty ; but it never left the place, and became attached to them. In the spring of the following year we 
missed him for nearly a week, and thought be had been shot ; but one morning I observ^ed him soaring about 
with another of his species, which proved to be a female. They paired, and laid several eggs in an old 
dove-cote, about a hundred yards from the Rectory; but being disturbed that season, as I thought by some 
White Owls, the eggs were never hatched. The next spring he again brought a mate ; they again built, 
and reared a nest of young ones. Last year they did the same ; but some mischievous boys took the young 
ones when just ready to fly. Though in every respect a wild bird as to his habits in the fields, he comes 
every day to the nursery window, and, when it is opened, will come into the room, and perch upon the chairs 
or table, and sometimes upon the heads of the little ones, who always save a piece of meat for him. His 
mate will sometimes venture to come within a yard or two of the house, to watch for him when he comes 
out of the room with his meat ; she will then give chase and try to make him drop it, both of them squealing 
and chattering, to our great amusement. The male never leaves us ; indeed he is so attached to the 
children, that if we leave home for a time he is seldom seen ; but as soon as we return, and he hears the 
voices of his little friends calling him by name, he comes flying over the fields, squealing with joy to see 
them again. He is now so well known among the feathered tribes of the neighbourhood, that they take no 
notice of him, but will sit upon the same tree with him ; even the Rooks appear quite friendly.” 
That the Kestrel is a constant resident with us, I apprehend no one will doubt ; for it may be seen at all 
seasons, the cold of even our severest winters not driving it to more distant lands ; but that it changes its 
position from one part of the country to another in search of a more abundant supply of food is very probable ; 
and on this point Mr. Macgillivray, after remarking that it is more numerous near the Frith of Forth in 
winter than in summer, says, “ Probably, like the Merlin, it merely migrates from the Interior to the coast 
and “ in the North of Ireland, generally,” says Mr. Thompson, “ Kestrels seem to be quite as numerous in 
winter as in summer.” 
The following remarks on the habits of the bird, as observed in India, are from the pen of T. C. Jerdon, 
Esq., one of the most accurate and careful of the many officers who have written on the Natural History of 
that country, and are taken from the first sheets of his forthcoming work on the ‘ Birds of India.’ 
“ The Kestrel,” says Mr. Jerdon, “ is a cold-weather visitant to India, one of our earliest, indeed ; and it 
does not leave till April. It is most abunbant, being found in every part of the country, and at all elevations. 
Its chief food is lizards ; hut it also eats rats and mice, insects, especially grasshoppers and locusts, and 
rarely, young or sickly birds. It constantly hovers over a spot where it has observed something move, and, 
when certain of its presence, drops down upon it with noiseless wing. Mr. Blyth mentions that parties of 
twenty or thirty may be seen together beating over the cultivated lands in Lower Bengal. This I have 
never witnessed. It does not breed in this country. It used to be trained occasionally in Europe to hunt 
larks, quails, and other small birds, but it is scouted by the Indian falconers as an ignoble race.” 
I observe that Indian specimens are somewhat smaller and lighter-coloured than those inhabiting England ; 
the whole of the under surface is whiter or more silvery, and the longitudinal streaks narrower, as are also 
the arrow-head-shaped marks of black on the back. I further find that this remark equally applies to 
specimens from Trebizond and Malta, males from both of which localities are now before me side by side 
with others killed in England. 
The site chosen by the Kestrel for laying its eggs is much varied ; sometimes it selects the nest of a Crow, 
or other large bird, at others the shelf of a rock, or a crevice in a tower or other building — its four or 
five eggs being laid without any pretence of a nest of its own making. 
The eggs of the Kestrel are of a pale reddish white, mottled all over with dark reddish brown, and occa- 
sionally with blotches of reddish brown ; they are one inch and seven lines long, by one inch and three lines 
broad. 
The young, when first hatched, are covered with white down ; this soon gives place to feathers which are 
alternately barred with black and buff, a character of plumage which is always retained by the female, but 
which is only carried by the male to his first moult, when it is exchanged for a very different dress ; the head, 
lower part of the hack, and tail are now uniform grey, with the exception that the latter is crossed near the 
tip by a conspicuous black band ; the breast is longitudinally streaked and spotted, and the feathers of the 
back tipped with lancet-shaped markings. Tliis dress is accurately figured on the accompanying Illustration, 
which represents a male more strongly marked than usual; it was taken from a fine Welsh specimen, kindly 
sent to me by my friend Colonel Watkyns, who informed me that it had been killed by a blow with a stick. 
The reduced figure of the female, which sex is always larger than the male, will give the reader an equally 
accurate idea of her colouring and markings, and render a description of this common English bird almost 
unnecessary ; let me beg, however, that it may not he confounded with the Sparrow-Hawk, a bird of very 
different stamp and character : I mention this because I have often heard the Kestrel so called. 
The front figure represents a male of the natural size on a branch of a Scotch Fir. 
