Anecdotes of' a tame Hawk. 19 



Art. VI. Anecdotes of a tame Hawk. By W. B. Clarke, Esq. 



Sir, 



About three years since a young sparrowhawk was pur- 

 chased and brought up by my brother. This was rather 

 hazardous, as he, at the same time, had a large stock of fancy 

 pigeons, which, in consequence of their rarity and value, he 

 greatly prized. It seems, however, that kindness and care 

 had softened the nature of the hawk, or the regularity with 

 which he was fed rendered the usual habits of his family 

 unnecessary to his happiness ; for, as he increased in age and 

 size, his familiarity increased also, leading him to form an 

 intimate acquaintance with a set of friends who have been 

 seldom seen in such society. Whenever the pigeons came to 

 feed, which they did oftentimes from the hand of their 

 almoner, the hawk used also to accompany them. At first 

 the pigeons were shy, of course ; but, by degrees, they got 

 over their fears, and ate as confidently as if the ancient 

 enemies of their race had sent no representative to their 

 banquet. It was curious to observe the playfulness of the 

 hawk, and his perfect good-nature during the entertainment ; 

 for he received his morsel of meat without any of that ferocity 

 with which birds of prey usually take their food, and merely 

 uttered a cry of lamentation when the carver disappeared. 

 He would then attend the pigeons in their flight round and 

 round the house and gardens, and perch with them on the 

 chimney-top, or roof of the mansion ; and this voyage he 

 never failed to make early in the morning, when the pigeons 

 always took their exercise. At night he retired with them to 

 the dovecote : and though for some days he was the sole 

 occupant of the place, the pigeons not having relished this 

 intrusion at first, he was afterwards merely a guest there ; for 

 he never disturbed his hospitable friends, even when their 

 young ones, unfledged and helpless as they were, offered a 

 strong temptation to his appetite. He seemed unhappy at 

 any separation from the pigeons, and invariably returned to 

 the dove-house, after a few days purposed confinement in 

 another abode, during which imprisonment he would utter 

 most melancholy cries for deliverance ; but these were changed 

 to cries of joy on the arrival of any person with whom he was 

 familiar. All the household were on terms of acquaintance 

 with him ; and there never was a bird who seemed to have 

 won such general admiration. He was as playful as a kitten, 

 and, literally, as loving as a dove. 



But that his nature was not altogether altered, and that, 

 notwithstanding his education, which, as Ovid savs, 



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