264 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



Sometimes she would perch above me in such a 

 position as to appear silhouetted against the blue, 

 intensely bright sky, looking inky-black on her black 

 branch. Then, flying to another branch where the 

 light would be on her and a mass of dark pine-needles 

 for a background, one could see the colouring of her 

 plumage. Seen through a powerful binocular, she 

 would appear as big as a goshawk, and as beautiful 

 as that noblest of our lost hawks in her pigeon-blue 

 wings and upper plumage, the white breast barred 

 with brown, thin yellow shanks and long black claws, 

 and the shining yellow eyes, exceedingly wild and 

 fierce. Presently her little mate would appear, carry- 

 ing a small bird in his claws, and begin darting wildly 

 about among the trees, screaming his loudest, but 

 would refuse to visit the nest. In the end my per- 

 sistence would tire them out; gradually the piercing 

 reiterated cries would grow less and less frequent, 

 and finally cease altogether. The female would fly 

 from tree to tree, coming nearer and still nearer to 

 the nest, until at last she would perch directly over 

 it and look down upon her young, and finally drop 

 upon them and disappear from sight. And by-and-by 

 the male, approaching in the same cautious way, 

 would at length fly to the nest and, without alighting, 

 just hovering a moment, drop his bird upon it, then 

 dash away and quit the grove. She would then refuse 

 to come off, even when I would strike loudly on 

 the tree with a stick; yet on my return on the 

 following day the whole performance would be 

 gone through again. 



