6o4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



The next season I took a female sparrow hawk from the nest, 

 when nearly grown, but she was never quite as familiar as 

 Sweepstakes, and in a few days ran or rather flew away. If she 

 had gone north toward the meadows, she would probably have 

 found her parents, at that time engaged in teaching her brothers 

 and sisters the rudiments of hunting, and would probably never 

 have returned. Instead of this she took the opposite direction, 

 and in a few days came back with a tremendous appetite, hun- 

 grily eating everything that was given her. When haying time 

 came on she would follow about the field, lighting on rake han- 

 dles or shoulders, or even the cart, when she was not feeding on 

 grasshoppers till she could hardly fly. Toward the end of sum- 

 mer she would be gone for days on hunting excursions, her abil- 

 ity in this direction having increased, but on her return would be 

 as familiar as ever. 



One day, however, she appeared nervous and frightened, and 

 on taking her in my hand I noticed that shot had cut through her 

 wing feathers, and those on her breast were rumpled and bloody. 

 Suddenly she caught sight of some one in the road more than a 

 hundred yards away, and was instantly in the air, soaring out 

 over the fields and up toward the clouds until almost out of sight. 

 She seldom came about the house after that, and though when I 

 saw her in the meadows was apparently not afraid, she yet refused 

 to come at my call. Early the next spring a female sparrow hawk 

 lighted on the roof of the barn, and at one time seemed to show 

 signs of coming down to me, but evidently thought better of it, 

 and flew off toward the north. Perhaps it was only a wild hawk ; 

 still, I prefer to think that she is still alive, and has escaped 

 those who shoot hawks only to obtain the bounty offered for 

 their scalps by the State. 



While traveling in the Balearic Islands. M. Gaston Vuiller, passing 

 through a gorge in Minorca, found the road barred by extemporized stone 

 walls, tree trunks, and all sorts of loose obstacles, while the foliage above 

 was hung '' with colored ribbons and garlands of flowers and fruit, like the 

 route of a triumphal procession." This was in preparation for a wedding 

 festival, and in obedience to a custom of placing every possible obstacle in 

 the way of brides and bridegrooms in order to remind them how diffi- 

 cult is the path to happiness, while the festoons above expi'ess the good 

 wishes of the people. The proper attention for a lover on this island to 

 pay his sweetheart is '"to steal silently upon her from behind and suddenly 

 to discharge his musket into the ground at her feet, and a well-brought-up 

 gii'l never winces under the trial." Suitors announce their good feeling 

 for the family by discharging a musket in the sitting room after spending 

 the evening with them, but before saying "good night." If the "good 

 night " has been said, the firing is held to signify a challenge to a rival. 



