Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/81

 observations will not apply to those in Scotland, whence Mr. Mac- gillivray had specimens, as he informs us they contained the remains of birds of various species, though mice are considered by him to be the chief food of this hawk (p. 331). Nor will the observations quoted apply to Ireland, where, judging from the stomachs that I have examined, and other means of knowledge, mice constitute but a small portion of the kestrel's food ; still, for what the species does kill of these vermin, its life should be preserved, and not sacrificed, as it is by every game- keeper.*

Of four birds examined by me in 1838, as to their food ; the first contained the remains of a young hare or rabbit ; the second (killed in the middle of December), insects only, consisting of three dor-beetles of a small species (Geotrupes vernalis?) and the elytra of a Carabus, or common "clock;" — the third was filled with the remains of a bird ; the fourth (in April) wholly with beetles (Coleoptera), and the larvæ of insects. Mr. J. R. Garrett states that to his house near Belfast, the gable of which being covered with ivy was consequently the resort of many sparrows, a kestrel came almost daily at sunset, when these birds had col- lected together to roost, and always captured one of them, after which exploit the locality was not revisited on that day.f A kestrel, observed by the same gentleman hovering in summer above a mountain tarn, was shot by him, and "in its stomach

The keeper at Hillsborough Park (co. Down) remarked, when robbing a nest of five young, in the last week of May, 1848, then twelve days out, that it contained a couple of mice. The down with which the young are covered is white, but when viewed en masse, of a light sandy-coloured tinge ; their irides are bluish-black. These birds were produced in the old nest of a magpie.

f This is quite a counterpart to the sparrow-hawk described by Mr. Waterton (under Kestrel), as frequently bearing off one of the inmates of the starling tower at Walton Hall. Dr. Burkitt of Waterford, remarks, in a letter to me, that " the boldness of some hawks, when in pursuit of prey, is truly astonishing. I recollect one evening in the summer of 1835, being struck by the appearance of a sparrow which alighted in a myrtle within two yards of me, and hopped backwards and for- wards within a space of about eight or ten inches, evidently in a state of extreme terror. For the few moments that it continued thus, my attention was exclusively attracted by its most peculiar motions, but almost at the same instant I felt as if something brushed my head (my hat being off at the time), and before I could turn to ascertain the cause, a female kestrel dashed at the sparrow and bore it off." This, as well as what is mentioned above, seems rather the act of a sparrow-hawk than a