162 By Leafy Ways. 



him, and he will overtake a partridge in the open 

 field. No bird, indeed, is safe a few bright feathers 

 scattered by some lonely path mark the fate even of 

 the jay and the green woodpecker. 



The sparrowhawk will sometimes attack a crow. 

 The duel is fought in mid-air. The hawk skilfully 

 wheeling about his sable antagonist makes now and 

 then frantic clutches at his back ; the lumbering crow, 

 with hoarse notes of anger and defiance, does his 

 best to meet his active enemy on the point of the 

 bayonet. And so they drift over the crest of the hill 

 and disappear. 



Both birds have a bad character. Have they been 

 quarrelling over the division of plunder, or has the 

 extremity of hunger driven the hawk to attack a bird 

 larger than himself? 



He is, in truth, a bold marauder. Instances have 

 been known of his dashing through a window in chase 

 of a lark or sparrow that had taken sanctuary from its 

 fierce pursuer even within the dwelling of man. One 

 was caught in a drawing-room in the act of dragging a 

 canary through the bars of its cage. 



Few rustics when armed with a gun will let an owl 

 of any sort go by scot-free. They shake their heads 

 when told that they are killing a useful destroyer of 

 vermin. 



' Men have no faith in fine-spun sentiment 

 Who put their trust in bullorks and in beeves.' 



Some years since a row of stately elms was the 



