Sl'AKROW HAWK. c^^l 



their iin})(M tiip-iU, iiitru!*ion until tired of the sport. 

 But, before this theory can be' admitted, it will be ne- 

 cessary to shew that hawks are occasionally beset by 

 the very species of small birds on which they habitual- 

 ly prey, which has not yet been done. How does a 

 bird, which under ordinary circumstances manifests ex- 

 treme terror at the sight of another, under other cir- 

 cumstances, muster sufficient courage to pursue it ? Is 

 it certain that a hawk is iinable to single out a bird 

 from a flock ; or is there reason to think that a troop of 

 swallows, which have no weapons that could inflict the 

 least injury on a hawk, could in the smallest degree af- 

 fect it with fear ? It is observable in our own species, 

 that cowards, the moment the danger is over, assume 

 so much more courage than is natural to them, that in 

 the midst of the excitement they will even make a 

 venture which in ordinary circumstances they would 

 not have courage to do. Well, "the small birds that we 

 speak of are all cowards in the presence of hawks at 

 least, and when one of the latter comes unawares among 

 them and carries oif one, or passes over without pur- 

 suing them, they soon recover from the fright, and be- 

 ing elated beyond their ordinary state, in a degree cor- 

 responding to the previous depression, they muster spirit 

 enough to go on for some time with a mock pursuit ; 

 and this seems to me to be the whole mystery solved 

 in the matter of hawks. The cuckoo they probably 

 mistake for a hawk, as did Aristotle and the ancients, 

 and an owl is not less rapacious than a falcon, although 

 by day he cannot see well, and is the less liable to 

 irighten away the little braggarts. 



Although the sparrow hawk is one of the shorter- 



