CHAPTER XI 



HOW TO FIND THE BIRDS OF PREY 



IT would be quite safe to assert that hardly more 

 than one bird-lover in a hundred or maybe in 

 a thousand knows much from personal ex- 

 perience about the " raptores," or birds of prey, 

 the hawks, eagles, owls, and vultures. Most of them 

 are shy and retiring, resorting to the wildest and most 

 inaccessible places in the general region where they 

 live. The owls are nocturnal and generally hide away 

 by day, so that, as a class, they are very hard to find. 

 Owing to the difficulties in the way of knowing them, 

 they have a sort of social exclusiveness, receiving only 

 the insistent to terms of intimacy. The test of fitness 

 for their society, however, is not one of descent or 

 property, but of activity and enthusiasm. Knowl- 

 edge of the hawks and owls is a pretty good indorse- 

 ment of advanced standing in practical ornithology. 

 The pursuit of them is so fascinating and success in 

 it so exciting and gratifying that I especially com- 

 mend them to the vigorous and active youth, and so 

 am devoting a separate chapter to tell more in detail 

 how to find and know them. 



It is a common sight to see hawks soaring high up 

 in the air or flying rapidly across the open country 

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