HAWKS. 149 



was wounded on the side of the head, and was bleeding, 

 but the gentleman left it in a furrow, hoping that the 

 wound might not prove fatal, and that the mother might 

 find it and reap the reward of her maternal attachment. 



It may seem extraordinary that they should presume 

 to meddle with living things of their own size and 

 weight, but it is still more remarkable that they should 

 occasionally wage successful warfare with birds still 

 larger than themselves, as, for instance, with the Jay. 

 'Not along ago, some boys observed a Hawk flying after 

 a Jay, which on reaching it immediately attacked, and 

 both fell on a stubble-field, where the contest appeared 

 to be carried on; the boys hastened up, but too late to 

 save the poor Jay, which was at the last gasp; in the 

 agonies of death, however, it had contrived to infix and 

 entangle its claws so firmly in the Hawk's feathers, that 

 the latter, unable to escape, was carried off by the boys, 

 who brought it home, when on examination it proved to 

 be a Kestrel. The Sparrow-hawk of North America. 

 (Falco sparverius), which is more nearly allied to the 

 Kestrel than ours, is often known to attack the Biue 

 Jay of that country. No wonder that Jays have a 

 great dislike to this Hawk, and never fail to annoy it by 

 every means in their power. Sometimes they will fol- 

 low in order to plague it, and at other times, they, by 

 imitating its note, will deceive and draw it from its 

 haunts. In return for all this abuse, the Hawk now 

 and then revenges itself by killing and eating the fattest 

 of its persecutors. 



Rapid as is the flight of these birds of prey, and 

 accustomed as they are to pounce at once on their 

 game, and if disappointed leave it, and continue their 

 search elsewhere, they will at times follow a devoted 

 bird for a length of time with great perseverance. Not 

 long ago, some fishermen belonging to Newhaven, when 

 about five miles from the Bass-rock, off the coast of 

 Scotland, observed a Hawk in close pursuit of a small 

 bird. Apparently exhausted by its numberless sudden 



