334? Natural Historic of my Neighbourhood : — 



dashed out his brains ! I have also known a hawk to pounce 

 upon a bird hung up in a cage by a window ; when he, miss- 

 ing his mark, dashed in through the glass, and was captured. 

 Is this owing to any defect of sight ? or is the attention so 

 taken up with one object that another is not perceived ? 



The Tenacity with which the Falcons grasp their Prey 

 has frequently excited my admiration ; for I have seen them 

 disturbed in every possible way, and yet making oiF with 

 the prize : nay, I have even seen them killed, and yet retain 

 their prey in their grasp. As an instance, perhaps the fol- 

 lowing will be sufficient: — -A neighbour of mine, a keen 

 sportsman, was one day sitting by his kitchen-fire, when he 

 heard a great clattering in his poultry-yard. Well knowing 

 the meaning of such an uproar, he immediately started up, 

 and, seizing his gun, determined to be revenged upon the 

 aggressor. When he reached the yard, he observed a moor 

 buzzard just clearing the top of one of his barleyricks, 

 with a chicken in its claws. The buzzard was immediately 

 fired at and struck severely, but escaped from sight. The 

 following day, its carcass was found at some distance, and the 

 chicken running about the same field uninjured. I have known 

 instances in which the captive has been totally unable to 

 release himself; and the sportsman has been absolutely obh'ged 

 to open the claws of the dead bird in order to set the prey at 

 liberty.* 



The Kestrel pays me a visit almost daily ; hovering for a 

 considerable time in the air, then taking a rapid sweep to 

 another part of the field, and there, again, hovering for 

 another long space of time, apparently in the utmost enjoy- 

 ment. What name can better describe the habits of such a 

 bird than the wind-hover ? 



That fine Bird the Kite, though, I believe, a very local 



* [See p, 150, On the fact there quoted from the Field Naturalist, Mr. 

 Bree has since remarked as follows : — The combat between the hawk and 

 magpie, mentioned in p. 150., reminds me of 



A Method of catching Magpies [and other Species of Birds], which, I have 

 been told, has been practised with success. A live magpie is fastened 

 down to the ground on its back. In this situation, the noise which the 

 bird makes, together with its exertions to release itself, attracts the atten- 

 tion of other magpies, who come to its assistance. The first unfortunate 

 bird which ventures within reach is so firmly grasped in the claws of the 

 captive, that it may be taken up by the hand and secured, in order to be 

 tied down in like manner to ensnare others : and thus the magpies are 

 made to inveigle their own kind. This is no new method of entrapping 

 birds : if I remember right, an exact representation of it is given in one of 

 the curious prints of hunting pieces by Anthony Tempesta, who flourished 

 between 1555 and 1630. In the same set of prints are representations of 

 some other very curious methods of catching birds and other wild animals, 

 as well as of the diversion of riding a crocodile. — W. T. Bree. Allesley 

 Rectory y April 16. 1834.] 



