Some slept, some thought they were awake; but Noel and young Morland walked upward through the woods towards a high common of heath and furze, crowned by what was known as Kestrel rocks.
I'm sending Nurse and baby down to Kestrel at once, and going to Leila's for the night, until I've made up my mind what to do.
Upon the sand-hills a curious and frequent sight is that of the hovering of the kestrel over its intended prey, which here consists very generally of young rabbits.
I have seen one of his eyess tiercels take a kestrel with apparent ease at the first stoop.
A short tail with plenty of strength and solidity is better both for useful and ornamental purposes; and a hawk with a long flexible train like a kestrel is not to be preferred.
There is even a story extant of an eyess kestrel which was flown at a young partridge and took it.
Thus for a beginner the kestrel is, in my opinion, undoubtedly the most suitable hawk upon which he can try his hand.
The kestrel had at first little difficulty in eluding the stoops of the three merlins, who seemed not much in earnest.
I looked round, and for the first time saw that a wild kestrel had come over into the field, and was dodging the stoops made at him by the remaining merlins.
In straight-ahead flying, in mounting, and in throwing up, the kestrel was completely outpaced.
For this reason, if for no other, every beginner should try his 'prentice hand on a kestrel before he aspires to a peregrine or merlin.
As a rule the trained kestrel refuses all wild quarry, and it has never been known to persevere in killing any.
As its food consists in a very great measure of field-mice, the Kestrel is thus able by means of its telescopic eyesight to see if a mouse rises from its hole; and if it should do so, the bird drops on it and secures it in its claws.
Independently of its smaller size, it may be distinguished from the Common Kestrel by the whiteness of its claws.
The usual flight is a mixture of that of the kestrel and the falcon, the Harier sometimes poising itself over some particular spot, and at others shooting forwards through the air with motionless wings.
Unlike the sparrow-hawk, the Kestrel is undoubtedly gregarious, and will build its nest in close proximity to the habitations of other birds, a number of nests being often found within a few yards of each other.
When it goes out in search of food, it soars into the air, and floats in circles over the water, watching every inch of it as narrowly as a kestrel watches a stubble-field.
Mr. Tristram remarks that he has found its nest in the recesses of the caverns occupied by the griffon vultures, and that the Kestrel also builds close to the eagles, and is the only bird which is permitted to do so.
The Kestrel has a very large geographical range, being plentiful not only in England and Palestine, but in Northern and Southern Europe, throughout the greater part of Asia, in Siberia, and in portions of Africa.
After a while, the Kestrel ascended to a higher elevation, and then resumed its hovering, in the attitude which is shown in the upper figure.
The kestrel at this moment flew swiftly away, and the keeper was so perturbed he missed his opportunity of bringing her down.
Ralph laughed, and they sauntered off together, and the kestrel sailed back to her despoiled nest.
The Kestrel is by far the commonest hawk in the Islands, and is resident throughout the year.
The Kestrel is quite as common in Alderney and Herm, and even in the little Island of Jethou, as it is in Guernsey and Sark.
A kestrel hovering above the Marsh is a common sight, and lapwings at certain times of the year are frequent visitors.
A kestrel can and does hover in the dead calm of summer days, when there is not the faintest breath of wind.
Hence has arisen the supposition that a kestrel cannot hover without a wind.
When the season became less rigorous, and the breeding time approached, the kestrel was seen no more; having flown for the copses between the Downs or in the Weald.
It is usually at this height that a kestrel hovers, though he is capable of doing it a much greater elevation.
The kestrel is the commonest hawk in the southern parts of England, so that many opportunities occur to observe his habits; and there ought not to be any doubt in the matter.
Even on the ground almost all birds face the wind by choice; but the hovering kestrel has no choice.
I have seen a kestrel hover over every variety of dry ground that is to be found.
The Boke of St Albans defines the hawk appropriate to each social station: the eagle for an emperor, the peregrine for an earl, and so down the scale until the kestrel is assigned to a "knave".
The kestrel migrates in autumn, going away at the same time with the larks, which are its favourite food.
It rose in bold curves, like a kestrel soaring, into colder air.
Above them, in the eye of the sun, a kestrel hovered.
First it moved in a steady flight, hovering like a kestrel above us; then, with a flash which startled me out of my wits and brought my horse to a standstill, it rushed apparently towards us, and finally disappeared behind the clouds.
A kestrel was hovering in the next meadow: when the beat of his wings ceased he slid forward and downwards, then rose and came over me in a bold curve.
We have known a Tawny Owl to kill and devour a Kestrel which had been kept in the same aviary with it.
Here stanniel is a corruption of standgale, a name for the kestrel hawk, and Malvolio is said to "check at" the letter, just as a kestrel hovers over a mouse or other object which has suddenly attracted its attention.
But more out-of-the-way birds will sometimes come to Oxford, and I have seen a Kestrel trying to hover in a high wind over Christchurch Meadow, and a Heron sitting on the old gatepost in the middle of the field.
The Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) also still survives, and we do not grudge it a prolonged lease of life.
Suddenly it arrests its onward progress, soars like a Kestrel for a second or two, with its beak pointed downwards.
It is a generally-diffused bird, by no means so common as the Kestrel and Sparrow-hawk, but is met with occasionally in most countries of Europe and Asia, and in various parts of the British Isles.
The Kestrel appears to be generally distributed over the country, showing no marked predilection for upland or lowland, heath or marsh.
The Kestrel being the most abundant and by far the most conspicuous in its habits of all the British birds of prey, is probably, in most instances, the bird which has been observed whenever the appearance of 'a Hawk' has been mentioned.
The Kestrelwas formerly trained to hunt small birds, and in the court of Louis XIII was taught to hawk for Bats.
An anecdote is recorded in the Zoologist of a male Kestrel having, in the second year of his domestication, induced a female bird to join him in his half-civilized life, and to assist him in rearing a joint family.
THE RUN The kestrel cruising over meadow Watched the hunt gallop on his shadow, Wee figures, almost at a stand, Crossing the multi-coloured land, Slow as a shadow on a dial.
After some time, they observed a kestrel hawk loitering about the cottage: they used to throw him scraps of meat, and they noticed that he always carried off a portion of every meal, dragging even heavy bones away out of sight.
It was a kestrel: our friend was greatly shocked, and tried to rescue the little victim; but the kestrel stood at bay and refused to move.
Observe what consternation the sparrow-hawk brings to the little songsters when he is abroad; but how different when the kestrel passes overhead!
But for mice of all kinds the kestrel has only unrelenting and ceaseless hostility; and it has been calculated that a single pair will account in a season for the astonishing number of ten thousand.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "kestrel" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
