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Pictures of Bird Life 



Tawny Owl (Syrm'uiu aliico). 



I once saw a Kingfisher liotly 

 ])ursued by a Sparrow-hawk. 

 Both birds flashed past nie at 

 topmost speed while fly-fishing 

 in a small Lincolnshire stream. 

 There was but a small space be- 

 tween them, and I could mark 

 the bright yellow eyes of the 

 Hawk, and the feet among the 

 ])reast-feathers ready to strike, 

 but a thick and high hedge pre- 

 vented me from seeing the end 

 of the chase. There is no doubt, 

 however, that, unless the Kingflsher coidd take shelter under 

 a bank or drop into the water, it must have been taken. 

 They are not birds capable of prolonged effort in fliglit, 

 though for a short distance they tra^•el ^'ery quickly. 



One of tlie most curious habits among birds must 

 surely be that which characterises the Cuckoo, of laying 

 its eggs in the nests of other birds, and thereby ridding 

 itself of the burden of bringing up its offspring. Other 

 birds show such devotion to their young — love of off- 

 spring being so predominant in their natiu'es that life itself 

 is freely sacriflced in their defence — that this callousness 

 on the part of the Cuckoo is very abnormal and very 

 difficult to account for. 



The South European form, the Greater Spotted Cuckoo, 

 also practises the same parasitical custom, but restricts 



