course he had many other pigeons, too; but 
we cannot tell about all of them. Perhaps it is 
enough to say that he must have had at ieast 
twenty varieties, all different, and all very in- 
teresting to any one who cares for such birds. 
One day the following spring the superintend- 
ent of the place came to him and said, “Mr. Wing, 
several of the pigeons have disappeared of late. 
Every time we let a few of them out to fly about, 
at least one of them fails to come back.” 
This was bad news indeed, for he did not like 
to keep his pets shut up in their enclosures all 
the time, so he told the superintendent to keep a 
sharp lookout and find what became of them. 
A week later the man came again. “I think 
I have found what is taking the pigeons,” he 
said. “It is a hawk.” | 
“What kind of hawk?” asked the owner. 
“T don’t know, except that it is very dark on 
the back, and it is the swiftest bird I ever saw 
on the wing. I saw it overtake a pigeon and 
strike it dead from the air. If it has young 
some place around here it certainly will eat our 
pigeons all spring.” 
164 
