270 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



sting of a pellet of lead in their flesh, for they were 

 exceedingly bold and vociferous whenever I approached 

 the nesting-tree. I visited them on several days for the 

 pleasure of seeing and hearing them. The female was 

 very bold and handsome to look at. Sometimes she 

 would perch above me in such a position as to appear 

 silhouetted against the blue, intensely bright sky, look- 

 ing 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 gos- 

 hawk, 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, exceed- 

 ingly wild and fierce. Presently her little mate would 

 appear, carrying 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 persistence would tire them out; gradually the 

 piercing reiterated cries would grow less and less fre- 

 quent, 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 



