^°^j^^-^^l Cameuon, 2'he Ferruginous Rough-leg. 167 



spectators as though the hawk would actually succeed in disposing 

 of this troublesome quarry, since it continued to rise easily with its 

 burden to a height of about twenty-five feet. By this time however 

 the fully aroused victim was stirred to a desperate effort, and it 

 became clear that the audacious hawk had ' bitten off more than it 

 could chew.' In Mr. Sullivan's words the tabby " twisted around, 

 gave a terrible splutter and scream and clawed the hawk with a 

 vengeance." The latter, flapping wildly, at once relaxed its grip, 

 while pussy nothing loath, withdrew her claws, fell to the ground, 

 and dashed under the posts. Numerous downy feathers, floating 

 gently to the ground convinced the onlookers that the chagrined 

 hawk had none the best of the encounter. Temporarily tired 

 of cats, it now soared to a great height and returned with empty 

 talons to the chalk cliffs. The cat in question was a very small one, 

 and Montana cats are notably thin in summer; but, allowing for 

 these facts, the victim must have weighed six pounds at least. 

 Nevertheless, Mr. Sullivan feels sure that, had the cat behaved like 

 the rabbit for which she was mistaken, the hawk would successfully 

 have conveyed the quarry to its eyrie in the rocks. As the nest 

 was two miles distant this would seem an extraordinary feat, 

 and presumably transcend any hitherto published records of the 

 kind. I quite admit that under favorable conditions of wind the 

 female hawk might transport a five or six pound jack-rabbit to the 

 eyrie; but that any cat-lifting hawk should ever surpass what this 

 one achieved seems to me improbable. The dexterous application 

 of the cat's raking claws would not fail to prevent it, as in the above 

 remarkable instance. 



Where a rabbit succumbs to the shock of the hawk's constricting 

 grip, the agile and wiry feline, on the other hand, is stimulated to 

 offer a desperate resistance, and like Mr. Sullivan's protege is little 

 the worse for the encounter. It cannot be told whether the hawk 

 was mistrustful of rabbits after this event, but the cat became so 

 suspicious of a flying object that she would race for the wood-pile 

 if Mr. Sullivan threw his hat into the air. 



