522 
THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. 
wing feathers are represented merely by some four or five black quills 
devoid of barbs, which thus presents the appearance of very coarse bristles. 
In habits the cassowary differs from ostriches and rheas in being a forest- 
haunting bird. The eggs are dark green, the shell beautifully granulated 
or shagreened. 
Kestrel—The small falcon which bears this name is also known as the 
windhover which it derives from its habit of hanging suspended in mid-air 
with its wings in rapid motion. When in this position it spies a mouse or 
small bird below, and' drops upon it suddenly and noiselessly with unerring 
aim. The male kestrel, which attains a length of twelve and a half inches, 
has yellow limbs, bluish beak, and black claws. The crown of the head, 
nape, and cheeks are ashy gray with dark streaks; the upper parts reddish 
fawn, with a small black spot on each feather; the quills blackish gray with 
lighter margins; and the tail feathers ashy gray, with a single broad black 
band near the end, and the extreme tips white. Beneath, the general color 
is pale rufous fawn, with dark spots or streaks, both of which disappear on 
the thighs and under tail-coverts; while the tail is grayish white with indis¬ 
tinct bars. The female, which scarcely exceeds her consort in size, differs 
by the top of the head being reddish fawn with dark streaks, the upper 
parts being banded with bluish black, and the tail rufous with several incom¬ 
plete black bars. The young males are nearly like the females, the tail 
changing blue first and the head last. The kestrel ranges over the whole of 
Europe and Northern Asia, migrating in winter into the north of China, 
India, and Northeastern Africa. It is replaced in the New World by the 
so-called American sparrow-hawk, in which the center of the crown of 
the head of the male is rufous, and the wing-coverts blue with black spots. 
Although its chief food consists of mice and voles, the kestrel occasionally 
kills small birds, and will also eat frogs, beetles, worms and grubs, while 
in India it frequently devours lizards. That it will occasionally kill a young 
partridge or chicken is doubtless true, but such small robberies are far more 
than counterbalanced by the benefits it confers on the agriculturist by the 
destruction of hosts of pernicious rodents, and it ought therefore to be 
carefully preserved, instead of being ruthlessly shot down. Although occa¬ 
sionally placed in a hollow tree, the nest is more generally situated among 
rocks or old buildings, while still more frequently the deserted nest of some 
other bird, such as a crow, magpie, or raven, is taken advantage of'. The 
eggs, usually four or five, may be either mottled all over with brownish red 
