The Bird's-Eye View. 183 



A party of linnets, busy in a clump of thistles, rise 

 into the air with a musical chorus, and, instead of 

 fleeing for shelter, give chase to the unoffending hawk. 

 Now, they gain on his deliberate flight, and swoop 

 down so as almost to brush him with their wings ; now, 

 they scatter right and left at some movement they 

 think may mean pursuit. They follow him a field or 

 two, and then retire, exulting in what they seem to 

 regard as his discomfiture. 



A kestrel rarely turns when thus pursued, but a 

 sparrow-hawk is apt to take the thing less calmly, and 

 will sometimes avenge his injuries in the blood even 

 of a brace of his impudent assailants. A cuckoo is 

 often mobbed in a similar manner ; and a belated owl 

 venturing out in daylight is pursued by half the birds 

 of the parish. 



As we watch the skilful evolutions of the kestrel, 

 his pause, his hover, and his swift descent, we are 

 tempted to wonder how so small an object as a mouse 

 or a beetle can be seen from such a height above the 

 ground. The wonder grows in the case of larger birds 

 of prey vultures especially, who from a height perhaps 

 of thousands of feet descry the wounded deer or dying 

 sheep when they themselves are far beyond our ken. 



One of the commonest experiences of a desert 

 march is the sudden appearance of vultures when 

 some unfortunate beast, exhausted by the journey on 

 the burning sand, has fallen out of the line and been 

 left to perish by the way. 



