TOE KESTRELS. 
203 
China. Our European Kestrel visits the Gold Coast in winter 
and extends its range a considerable way down East Africa, and 
perhaps to the southern districts of the continent. India is 
also a winter home for the species, which is resident in the 
Himalayas. i. 
In many countries bordering its southern range the Kestrel 
is represented by a dark resident race. Thus, in the Azores, 
in the mountains of Abyssinia, and again in those of Southern 
India and Burma, there is a distinct difference in size and in 
the deeper colouration of the Kestrels, which can hardly be 
looked upon as specific, but which show modifications effected 
by a tropical habitat. 
Habits. — From its habit of hovering in the air, the Kestrel is 
frequently noticed in the country, where it is known in many 
places as the “Windhover.” It is to be seen on almost any 
evening in the neighbourhood of the stubble-fields, where, 
as if held in the air by a thread, it hovers on the look-out 
for field-mice. If unsuccessful in its search, it will circle away 
to another part of the field, and then commence to hover 
again, till it falls like a bolt on its unsuspecting prey. Its food 
consists not only of mice, moles, and other small mammalia, 
but also largely of insects, frogs, lizards, &c. Cockchafers are 
a favourite food, and these and other beetles it devours on the 
wing. It is but rarely that the Kestrel is driven by sheer 
necessity, in a droughty season perhaps, to make a raid on the 
Pheasant-coops to find food for its young, and, as a rule, the 
bird is a real friend to the farmer and gardener. So little do 
small birds regard it as an enemy, that I have seen a Kestrel 
perched on a straw-stack and surrounded by Sparrows, who 
were pilfering gaily without heeding the Hawk, and when the 
little birds flew off, affording, as one would have thought a 
splendid opportunity for a raid on such a flock, the Kestrel 
did not attempt to follow. 
That they can, however, when hard pressed for food, be 
decidedly destructive to young game has been proved by 
several observers, and Mr. De Winton lately shot a pair in the 
act of killing young Pheasants. This is, however, undoubtedly 
a rare occurrence, and was the more remarkable in this instance, 
because this particular pair seemed to be the only delinquents ; 
all the other Kestrels, of which there were plenty in the neigh- 
