CAPTURE OF THE GANG. 73 



claws ; him lie shot, and then mounted the tree to 

 examine the nest, which he found nearly filled with 

 dead birds which the old hawks had procured 

 during their foraging expeditions for their young. 

 The latter were absent, but D. could hear their 

 sharp cries from different parts of the wood. His 

 next care was to set a trap in the nest without 

 removing any of its contents, and he had not 

 waited lono- before he cauo^ht the female with a 

 young chicken in her talons. He then proceeded 

 to empty the nest, and could scarcely trust his 

 eyes at the sight — here he shook out upon the 

 grass for my inspection the contents of the bag — 

 there were fifteen young pheasants, about the 

 size of quails — some rather larger — four young 

 partridges, five chickens, a bullfinch, two meadow 

 pipits and two larks, all in a fresh state. Put- 

 tock, the gardener, who helped D. to remove 

 them from the nest, corroborated his statement, 

 and I certainly saw and counted the victims my- 

 self, all of which had evidently been killed by a 

 bird of prey. 



''The last operation of Denyer was to shoot 

 the young sparrowhawks, which, although nearly 

 fullgrown and capable of flying, were unable to 

 provide themselves with food. This he effected 

 by remaining quietly under the tree, until the 

 birds, whose gradually increasing hunger was 



