30 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



animal was distinctly visible, and the tail depending, 

 the hawk had it by the shoulders or head. Flying 

 without the least apparent effort, the bird cleared the 

 elms, and I lost sight of him beyond them. Now, 

 the kestrel is but a small bird, and taking into 

 consideration the size of the bird and the weight of a 

 rat, it seems as great a feat in proportion as for an 

 eagle to snatch up a lamb. 



Some distance up the road, and in the corner of 

 an arable field, there was a wheat rick which was 

 threshed and most of the straw carted away. But 

 there still remained the litter, and among it probably 

 a quantity of stray corn. There was always a flock 

 of sparrows on this litter a flock that might often 

 be counted by the hundred. As I came near the spot 

 one day a sparrow-hawk, whose approach I had not 

 observed and which had therefore been flying low, 

 suddenly came over the hedge just by the loose straw. 



With shrill cries the sparrows instantly rushed for 

 the hedge, not two yards distant; but the hawk, 

 dashing through the crowd of them as they rose, 

 carried away a victim. It was done in the tenth of 

 a second. He came, singled his bird, and was gone 

 like the wind, before the whirr of wings had ceased 

 on the hawthorn where the flock cowered. 



Another time, but in a different direction, I saw a 

 hawk descend and either enter or appear to enter a 

 short muph-cropped hedge, but twenty yards distant. 

 I ran to the. spot-; the hawk of course made off, but 

 there was nothing in the bush save a hedge sparrow, 

 which had probably attracted him, but which he had 

 not succeeded in getting. 



