KESTRELS, KITES AND BUZZARDS
“The kestrel belongs to the falcon family, as may be seen from the
small, sharp tooth on each side of the tip of the beak. It is rather a
handsome bird, about the size of a pigeon, red in color, with black
spots, and a white tip to the tail. The beak is blue and the legs are
yellow. The kestrel is the most widely scattered bird of prey and the
one most often seen near human habitations. Its favorite haunts are old
castles, lofty towers, and belfries. One often sees it flying with
untiring wing around these buildings, uttering the while a piercing
cry, plee, plee, plee! pree, pree, pree! which it sends forth to
frighten the sparrows snuggling in holes in the wall, so that it may
seize them when they fly out. It carefully plucks the little captured
birds before eating them; but it has another kind of prey which gives
it less trouble, and that is the mouse, which it enters open barns in
order to catch, also the fat and savory field-mouse, which it spies
from on high when holding itself motionless in the air in one position
with tail and wings gracefully extended. What will it do with its
catch? Will it skin the creature for the sake of cleanliness, as it
plucks the sparrow? No, the common mouse and the field-mouse are dainty
morsels of which the kestrel would be loath to lose a single drop of
blood. The rodent is swallowed just as it is, whole if small, piecemeal
if large. After digestion the skin and bones are thrown up through the
beak in the form of little balls, just as in the case of the owl.
“The kestrel nests in old towers, abandoned ruins, hollow rocks. Its
nest, made of twigs and roots, holds four or five rust-colored eggs
marbled with brown.
“We will pass now to the kite, which is different from all other birds
of prey, with its broad and forked tail, its very long wings, its
rather slender claws, and its very small beak, a beak not at all in
keeping with the bird’s size, which exceeds that of the falcon. This
beak makes the bird cowardly to excess, frightened by the slightest
danger, put to flight by a mere crow.
“If pressed by hunger, however, the kite will venture into the
neighborhood of pigeon-cotes and poultry-yards in order to seize young
pigeons and little chickens. Fortunately, the hen, if she has time to
gather her brood under her wings, can scare the invader away by simply
showing her anger. For want of poultry, the kite, which is hated by
thrifty country people, attacks reptiles, rats, field-mice, and
meadow-mice; and if it can get nothing else it will content itself with
carrion, such as dead sheep and spoiled fish.
“The kite’s extended wings measure more than a meter and a half from
tip to tip, and its flight presents a fine spectacle. When the bird
sweeps in wide circles through the upper atmosphere, it is as if it
were swimming, gliding without the least apparent exertion. Then all at
once it stops in its flight and remains suspended in one position for a
quarter of an hour at a stretch, held there by an invisible movement of
the wings.
“The kite is of a deep red hue on the back and rust-colored on the
breast and stomach, with a whitish head and the large wing-feathers
black. Its cry resembles a cat’s mewing. It builds its nest in tall
trees or, still oftener, in the hollows of rocks. Its eggs, commonly
three in number, are white shading into dingy yellow and speckled with
a few irregular brown spots.
“The birds known as harriers have a small semicircular collar of fine
thick feathers projecting from each side of the face and reaching from
beak to ear, much like the ring around the hornless owl’s eyes. In the
contour of the breast, in the long legs and wings, and in the still
longer tail, they have something of the falcon’s appearance and
bearing; while in their large head and in the little collar around the
face they are not unlike the nocturnal birds of prey. Harriers frequent
marshes and the banks of stagnant bodies of water, where they lie
concealed among the rushes in order to seize any small rodents,
reptiles, or insects that may come within their reach. The farmer has
no complaint to bring against them, as they show proper respect for his
little pigeons, chickens, and ducklings. Indeed, they are welcome
visitors on account of their strong liking for field-mice.
Unfortunately, the hunter accuses them of killing game, especially
water-fowl, hares, and rabbits.
“In this connection it is to be noted that the weasel, a small
carnivorous quadruped with a thirst for blood, is wont to make its way
into warrens in quest of young hares and rabbits, in order to suck
their blood, after which the dead bodies are left behind some bush.
These murderous operations do not escape the harrier’s vigilance. In
its leisurely flights it keeps a sharp eye on the surroundings of all
warrens in the woods, for the purpose of carrying off any dead bodies
and feasting on the weasel’s leavings. That it may occasionally be at
fault and mistake a live rabbit for a dead one, I should not dare deny;
but after all I forgive it willingly enough, and in consideration of
its war on field-mice I should be inclined to bestow upon it the
honorable title of farmer’s helper.
“If we may feel some uncertainty about harriers, there is no such doubt
concerning buzzards. In them we certainly have very valuable helpers,
large eaters of field-mice and meadow-mice, and great destroyers of
moles, those tireless burrowers whose numbers must be kept within
strict limits. Buzzards have a short, wide beak, curving downward from
the base; wings very long, but not pointed, reaching almost to the tip
of the tail; strong legs, and the space between the eyes and nostrils
bristling with hairs.
“Buzzards are fond of repose and phlegmatic by nature; or it might be
more accurate to say that they are endowed with a remarkable capacity
for patient and motionless waiting, a gift very necessary for the
successful hunting of the field-mouse, which must be watched for by the
hour at the mouth of its burrow. For half a day at a time, if need be,
the buzzard lies in wait without making the least movement or giving
the slightest sign of impatience. One would take it to be asleep. Then,
all of a sudden, the bird falls to hacking the soil with its beak and
tearing the turf with its powerful claws. A disemboweled mole is
brought to light, or perhaps a field-mouse is the prize, and in either
event the victim is no sooner caught than swallowed.
“Now do you know what reputation the buzzard has won by this habit of
long and motionless waiting so indispensable in the quest of game with
the acuteness of hearing characteristic of the mole and of rodents? The
reputation of stupidity. We say of a person of limited intelligence
that he is as stupid as a buzzard. Here again is an instance of that
wrong-headedness which makes us think little of so many of our helpers
and glorify those that prey upon us. Stupidity is the name we give to
the buzzard’s peculiarities, and for no better reason than that the
bird spares our poultry-yards and rids us of troublesome rodents;
whereas we speak of the eagle, which steals our lambs, and of the
falcon, plunderer of chicken-coops, as courageous, noble, and splendid.
“The common buzzard is a large brown bird with a whitish throat,
stomach-feathers marked with little lines alternately brown and white,
and tail crossed by nine or ten dark stripes. Its beak is whitish at
the base and black at the tip, its eyes and legs yellow. This species
nests in tall trees, the nest being made of interwoven twigs and lined
with wool and hair. It lays but three eggs at most, which are whitish
and irregularly sprinkled with dingy yellow spots. It is the common
buzzard especially that has won the reputation of stupidity with its
leisurely flying and its patience in watching for prey. It usually
watches on some mound of earth. Observers who have studied its habits
say that sixteen is about the number of mice it commonly eats in one
day, which makes nearly six thousand a year.”
“That’s the kind of bird we should like to have about our houses if we
could only tame it,” remarked Jules.
“There is nothing to prevent our trying it,” his uncle rejoined. “The
buzzard’s disposition is good enough. Other observers, who have studied
its hunting of field-mice, estimate that it eats nearly four thousand
of these in one year. From this number you can form some idea of the
multitude of little rodents a whole flock of buzzards would be able to
destroy. But we must not give the bird too much praise. I know that it
does not hesitate, when occasion offers, to seize and carry off a
wounded young hare; and I also know that when the snow is on the ground
and the buzzard is pressed by hunger, it will pounce upon any stray
chicken that may have got out of the poultry-yard. But what are these
few acts of theft when compared with the thousands of rodents of all
kinds that it clears away from our fields? Whatever the season of the
year, one cannot open a buzzard’s crop without finding common mice,
field-mice, and meadow-mice there by the dozen. If I owned a field that
was ravaged by these rodents, I should lose no time in planting a few
stumps there to serve as perches and watch-towers for buzzards in their
patient hunt for their favorite game.
“There is another variety of buzzard, the hawk-buzzard, that does us
good service in its fondness for larvæ, caterpillars, and insects
generally, particularly wasps.”
“What, those wasps that hurt so when they sting?” asked Emile.
“Yes, my boy; this buzzard feasts on the wasps whose sting is so
painful to us; it swallows them without a thought of their sting, just
as the hedgehog devours the viper and never worries about its venomous
fangs. The bird attacks their nests with its beak and pulls out the
nymphs from their cells, carrying them, fat and tender, to its little
ones.
“This buzzard is a somewhat smaller bird than the common buzzard. Its
back is brown, its throat light yellow with brown stripes, and its
breast and stomach white sprinkled with dark heart-shaped spots. The
tail is crossed by three wide dark bands, the beak is black, and,
finally, the head of the old male is bluish-gray. The bird nests in
woods, in tall trees, and its eggs are rather small, being
yellowish-white in color, but with so thick a sprinkling of large brown
spots as sometimes almost to hide the color underneath.
“The feather-legged buzzard has legs covered with long feathers, as in
certain species of pigeons bearing the same qualifying name. It
frequents river banks, uncultivated fields, and woods, and lives on
field-mice, moles, reptiles, and if need be on insects.
“Here let us bring to a close our talk on birds of prey. I have told
you about the more important ones, both diurnal and nocturnal, about
their habits, their food, and the services or the harm they do us. It
is now for you to add to what these brief talks have taught you, by
observing the things that come under your eyes every day. Do not fail
to examine with some care the buzzard as you see it perched on a mound
and patiently watching for a field-mouse; also the kestrel as it flies
screaming around the belfry and pounces, sometimes on a mouse,
sometimes on a sparrow; and the kite, too, as it soars on motionless
wings in the blue sky. You will get from this sort of study, first, a
great deal of pleasure, and, secondly, knowledge that will be highly
useful if you ever have a farm or a garden.”
“It seems to me,” said Jules, “that you have left out the very
commonest of the birds of prey, the crows.”
“Crows are not birds of prey,” replied Uncle Paul. “They have not the
hooked beak, the clutching claws, or the sharp, curved nails of birds
formed for a life of rapine. I will tell you about them to-morrow; or,
rather, I will begin with that one of the crow family known as the
raven.”