years ago my children procured a youug male Kestrel, which, wheu ahle 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 he had been s h o t; bnt one morning I observed him soaring about
with another o f his species, which proved to be a female. They paired, and laid several eggs in an old
— a a h""dral ■ B H I b"' bei”s disturbed that season, as I thought by some
White Owls, the eggs were never hatched. The next spring he again brought a m ate; they again built
and reared a nest of young ones. Last year they did the same; but some mischievous bovs took the yonnv
ones when'just ready to fly Though m every respect a wild bird as to his habits in the fields, he come!
eveiy day to the nursery window, and, when it is opened, will come into, the room, and perch upon the chairs
o r table and sometimes upon the heads o f the little ones, who always save a piece o f m eat for him His
mate will sometimes venture to come within a yard or two o f the house, to watch for him when he comes
■ chatt r° ° m I mea‘ 5 9 th<!n R C',aSe a "d tty t0 “ ake W dr° P i(' b° tb and chattering to our great amusement. The male never leaves u s; indeed he is so° fa ttbta<c="h> esdq uteoa ltinhgf
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
hem again. He is now so well known among the feathered tribes o f the neighbourhood, that they take no
■ but will sit upon the same tree with h im ; even the Rooks appear quite friendly.”
That the Kestrel IS a constant resident with us, I apprehend no one will d o u b t; for it may be seen a t all
— B C0W ° f eV“ ,° " r SCVerest winters d"™ g ‘ 0 more distant lands; but that it changes its
position from one part of the country to another in search o f a more abundant supply o f food is very probable •
and on this point Mr. Macg.Il.vray, after remarking th at it is more numerous near the Frith t f 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,” savs Mr Thnmmnn 1 i ’
winter as in summer." Mr. Thompson, Kestrels seem to be quite as numerous in
The following remark, on the habits o f 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 o f his forthcoming work on the ■ B ird, o f India '
.e Kestrel, says Mr. Jerdon, ■• is a cold-weather visitant to India, one o f our earliest indeed ■ and it i i i n i i i i i i i n i i i j j l
the whohTof the H T ” 1 SI”aIler a" d Mtne whole oi the under surface is whiter o r more silverv, and the lono-ifiwllnai ■ i i W ! England;
the arrow-head-shaped marks o f black on the back I f l h ! r fi H H n - r r o w e r , as are also
Mal,a' raa,es from both °f LTtL1:
— B S i M i M va ried; sometimes it selects the n e s to f a Crow,
five eggs being laid without any pretence of a nest’of its ow n T a kW t° 'TCr * ° ther f° “ r ° r
B H B H H h H | 'Vitb G do™ 1 tbis gives place to feathers which are R M H H R R f i l f l f l H B
accurate idea o f her colouring and markings and render <f desc ' t' C " f ei /WI' ^ rCailer **" equal,y
The front figure represents a male of the natural size on a branch o f a Scotch Fir