266 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



it is now nearly extinct. The courageous little merlin 

 does not range in southern England, and is very rare 

 even in its northernmost counties. The kestrel is 

 with us still, and it is beautiful to see him suspended 

 motionless in mid-air with swiftly vibrating wings 

 like a gigantic hover-fly; but he is nothing more than 

 a mouser and an insect-eater, a falcon that has lost 

 the noble courage of his tribe. The splendid powerful 

 goshawk, a veritable king among hawks, has long 

 been extinct; only his little cousin, the sparrow- 

 hawk, lives on in ever-diminishing numbers. But 

 although small and, as his name implies, a preyer 

 chiefly on little birds, he has the qualities of his noble 

 relation. In wooded places I am always on the look- 

 out for him in hopes of witnessing one of his dashing 

 raids on the feathered population. As a rule there is 

 little to see, for the sparrow-hawk usually takes his 

 quarry by surprise, rushing along the hedgerow, or 

 masked by trees, then bounding like a small hunting 

 leopard of the air on his victim and, if the stroke 

 has been missed, speeding on his way. Even if I do 

 not see this much — if I just catch a glimpse of the 

 blue figure speeding by, seen for a moment, then 

 vanishing among the trees — it is a pleasure to me, a 

 satisfaction to know that he still exists, this little 

 living link with the better vanished past, and my 

 day has not been wasted. 



Here, on the open downs where the small birds 

 when feeding have no close refuge into which they 

 can quickly vanish at the sight of danger, he may 

 occasionally be watched chasing them as a dog on 



