TINNUNCULUS ALAUDARIUS .
Kestrel.
Falco tinnunculus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 127.
aureus, Klein, Av., 49, 52, 5 3— Id. Ov. t. vi. fig. 4.
interstinctus, M'Clell. Proc.of Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 154.
fasciatus, Retz. Faun. Suec., p. 70.
brunneus, Bechst. Taschenb. Deutsch., tom. i. p. 38.
-— alaudarius, Gmel. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 279.
Accipiter alaudarius, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 379.
---------- tinnunculus, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 393.
Tinnunculus alaudarius, Vieill.
--------------- interstinctus, Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 21. sp. 3.
Cercfmeis tinnunculus, Bonap. Comp. List of Ear. and N. Amer. Birds, p. 5.
So much has been written respecting the habits and economy of the Kestrel by both British and Conrinenta
mthors, that it will not be necessary to give any lengthened details on these points, as they must be we
mown to every one at all acquainted with the history of our native b ird s; I shall therefore content myself
>y stating all th at it is necessary to say respecting it in as succinct a manner as may be. First, then, as
to its distribution: no one o f the B ritish Falcons and Hawks is so widely and so generally spread over England,
Ireland, and Sco tlan d -ev ery locality being alike frequented, whether it be barren wastes, heathy moorlands,
or districts under cultivation; on the continent of Europe it is equally diffused from east to west, and from
south to n o rth ; it is just as abundant throughout Africa northward of the T ropic, Asia Minor, and the entire
peninsula of India, from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin; and that its range extends even still farther ea t
has been proved by the receipt of specimens collected by Mr. Swinhoe in China, which do n o t materially
differ from those killed in England. Why are Kestrels so numerous when compared with other Falcons and
Hawks i Our acquaintance with them tells us that of all the members of the Falcomdie they are the most
omuivorous, and that, instead o f confining themselves to birds and small quadrupeds, insects, which are preyed
upon almost indiscriminately, form a considerable p art of their d ie t; and hence, as the abundance of thnr kmd of
food is greater, the greater is the number both of the individuals a n d o f the various spec.es o f Kestrel to which
the generic name o f Jlnmncnlns has been given. But to return to our own bird the only one of its, genus
which visits Great Britain: what are its habits? what are its peculiarities? The first and most striking is
undoubtedly its manner o f hovering and sustaining itself in the air a t one fixed position. Few, I conceive, who
have left the town, the mansion, or the cottage, and gone out for a country ramble but must have noticed
a stationary object between them and the sky. This is the Kestrel in pursuit of h.s daily calling, scan-
ning th eT a r th for a mouse, an insect, a lizard, or, if it be the season of summer, a young lark
m bird F o r several seconds (sometimes for a minute or m ore) this speck in the sky appears motionless;
— will tel. us if his penetrating eye has been attracted by some living object b e ow ; for
if so he descends like a stone towards the ground; if not, his beautifiilly constructed wings bear him
away’in a succession of graceful sweeps to another part of the heath or eommon, where he again enacts
scene I have endeavoured to describe, but which will perhaps be rendered more intelligible by a ^ ference
to the accompanying Plate, where the bird figured is shown to be a male by the black bar across the end
performs by destroying the ^ C o c k c h a f e r sup^ies to this species
an object ot pursuit , „ -¡s ,,, .1, . Kestrel engaged in an occupation entirely new
4 T 3 B i B I H H B . t i x § |