'I 
HAWKING-BIRDS. 
THE KESTREL, OR WIND -MOYER. 
This courageous little hawk derives its second name from its 
peculiar mode of flight. Flying gently along at some thirty or 
forty feet from the ground, it stops every now and then, re- 
maining perfectly stationary, narrowly eyeing the ground 
beneath. Should the grass be stirred by nothing more violent 
than the gentle breeze, the kestrel flies a little farther, and 
again scrutinizes. No sooner, however, does his quick eye 
detect the movement of a tiny living thing below, than, quick 
as thought, tail and wings are closed, and, whiz ! the hoverer 
comes towards the ground like a stone. It does not quite 
reach it, however, when tail and wings are again expanded, 
the cruel claws pounced on the little victim, that is triumph- 
antly borne off to some secluded nook, where its bones may be 
picked in peace. This habit of hawking on the wing attaches 
to the kestrel more than to any of its fellows. It does so for 
its amusement, and when not on business, Bishop Stanley 
asserts that it had been seen on summer evenings darting 
amongst a swarm of cockchafers, seizing one in each claw, and 
eating them on the wing, and then again darting amongst 
them. 
It has been asserted by naturalists that the kestrel lives 
entirely on mice and insects, and will not attack a bird, though 
never so small a one. Willughby andWaterton agree that “ mice 
form almost its sole article of food,” while a learned contribu- 
tor to Macgillivray’s “ History of British Birds ” says flatly, 
“ birds constitute no part of the kestrel’s food.” Following 
suit, Hr. Wilde, in his Narrative of a Yoyage to Madeira, &c., 
relates, “ I was not a little surprised at the good-feeling and 
familiarity that seemed to exist between the swallows and 
numbers of kestrels that flew round with the most graceful 
motion, now skimming with rapid flight along the sands, 
and anon balanced on extended wing for minutes together, 
ere they pounced upon their quarry. Their prey was not 
birds, but a large species of grass or sand hopper, with re- 
markably brilliant crimson legs. The wings and back of this 
insect were of the exact colour of the sand, so that when the 
animal lay quiet on the ground, not even the eye of a hawk 
could distinguish it. The bird, however, marked with unerring 
accuracy the spot whereon it alighted, and remained hovering 
over it as described till the insect again took flight, when its 
red legs and the under part of its body, rendering it very 
