uttered a low "H-u-s-h!" He then re- 

 moved the hood from the bird's head, 

 when it immediately began tearing at 

 the string, snapping viciously at objects 

 near it, and running to and fro in an 

 excited and angry manner. 



John seated himself on the ground 

 before the bird and began clucking to 

 it softly, with the index finger of his 

 right hand extended and pointing 

 straight at the bird's eyes ; then he turned 

 quietly in whichever direction the bird 

 moved, slowly waving his hand round 

 and round in a circle and never taking 

 his eyes off the bird's eyes. 



Gradually the hawk ceased to run 

 about, then stood still gazing steadily, 

 as though fascinated, at John's finger. 

 It would shut its eyes slowly, then 

 open them suddenly, only to shut them 

 again more slowly than before. At 

 first the bird stood perfectly erect; 

 then its head began gradually falling 

 over on its shoulder, and, without any 

 warning, it tumbled backwards, its eyes 

 shut, its legs sticking straight up in 

 the air, its body perfectly rigid. John 

 continued for a time to wave his hand 

 in a circle with the index finger ex- 

 tended; then he walked over to the 

 porch leaving the hawk on the ground, 

 where he lay for nearly thirty minutes, 

 when he gradually returned to con- 

 sciousness. 



A number of persons walking by 

 had stopped in the street to look at 

 John and the bird, and now exclama- 

 tions of surprise were heard as they 

 saw the actions of the hawk. 



"What did you do to that bird?" 

 asked a gentleman of John; "I never 

 in my life witnessed so strange a per- 

 formance." 



" I call that hypnotism," said the lad. 

 " I have been working with him every 

 day since I brought him home, and for 

 a week I have never failed to bring 

 him under mj^ influence and put him to 

 sleep in this way. If I go to the cage 

 to feed him, he flies at me in a great 

 rage at first, but if I pass my finger in a 

 circle before him several times he be- 

 comes quiet, and will take a mouse 

 from my hand without biting or tearing 

 me with his talons. Sometimes I 

 partly hypnotize him and lay the 

 mouse at his feet, and although he 



may be very hungry he will not touch 

 the food until I let him out from under 

 the influence of my finger. When he is 

 over being hypnotized he is as fierce 

 as he was when I brought him home, 

 and I do not believe he can ever be 

 made tame like other birds. Perhaps 

 if I had captured him when he was 

 young, with the down still on him, I 

 could have tamed him, but now he is 

 too old and fierce." 



"Well, my lad," said one of the men, 

 laughing, " if he is not tamed you have 

 him pretty well under your thumb and 

 finger at least." 



John's wonderful hypnotic influence 

 over the hawk was soonknown through- 

 out the town and crowds of people 

 often gathered to see him go through 

 this truly wonderful feat of hypnotiz- 

 ing the fierce hawk. 



The hawk belongs to the family of 

 the FalconidcE, which is so called from 

 the Latin word falcis, meaning a scythe, 

 the talons of the FalcofiidcB being 

 curved in the form of a scythe, thus 

 giving the name to the species. 



The wings of the hawk are so short 

 they do not extend to the tip of the 

 tail, for which reason it is called an 

 ignoble bird of prey, to distinguish it 

 from the true falcon, the wings of 

 which extend to the tip of the tail and 

 which is called a noble bird of prey. 

 The hawk's bill is short, curved from 

 the base, often terminating in a sharp 

 point called a tooth. They have rather 

 short, exceedingly strong legs and 

 long incurved talons with which they 

 tear their prey. 



The species are numerous and widely 

 distributed over the world; the gos- 

 hawk and the sparrowhawk are the 

 best known and most important. The 

 hawk is a diurnal bird of prey, which 

 means that it hunts in the day time. 

 It flies with exceeding swiftness, 

 having been known to travel a distance 

 of 1,350 miles in twenty-four hours. 



The hawk has very acute vision; 

 hence the expression, "Keen-eyed as a 

 hawk." It soars to a great height, 

 always endeavoring to get above the 

 bird it is pursuing in order to swoop 

 down upon it from above. It soars 

 in a series of arcs and against the wind, 

 which helps it to rise as it does a kite. 



43 



