48 GMIE rRESERVERS AKD BIRD PRESERVERS. 



Hawks which overtake their prey on the 

 wing constantly strike them dead in the air. 

 The frontispiece to that charming book, ' Game 

 Birds and Wildfowl,' by Mr. Knox, ' The Death 

 of the Mallard,' gives a capital illustration of 

 this. It is with the powerful hind talon that 

 the death wound is generally inflicted, but as 

 hawks sometimes miss their blow altogether, 

 so they occasionally strike more fully than they 

 intended. 



Then, as Mr. Knox expresses it, ' It is the 

 breast-bone protected by such strong pectoral 

 muscles that the concussion which deprives 

 its victims of life can have no injurious effect 

 upon the author of the momentum ' which 

 causes the injury. This is no doubt sometimes 

 the case, and we believe the hawk fears con- 

 cussion with the bird he pursues no more than 

 a strong boy fears charging another at football. 

 The best instance that we ever saw of this was 

 when we once put up a hen grouse in the 

 month of February, which w^as immediately 



