36 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



whatever happens to the poor pigeon it is 

 quite safe itself, it leaves off bothering about 

 hawks, and then it cannot be depended on 

 to give the alarm ; so that the hawk-catcher 

 has to catch a fresh shrike every season to 

 undertake this duty. 



Falcons and other hawks are not the only 

 birds that have been and are used for hunting ; 

 their big relations, the eagles, have also been 

 trained like them. When the Spaniards in- 

 vaded Mexico, they found that the natives 

 trained the great harpy eagle for hunting, 

 and Cortez, the conqueror, himself was pre- 

 sented with a trained harpy which was called 

 " Prince of the Air." Cortez was a cruel 

 man, and in a fit of temper he mortally 

 wounded the eagle ; but it did not die without 

 revenging itself, for with its dying strength it 

 seized its master's finger, and crushed it with 

 its bill, and this, curiously enough, was the 

 only wound which Cortez received during his 

 conquest of Mexico. 



Powerful as the harpy's bill is, however, 

 its feet are still more so, for it has toes as thick 

 as a man's fingers, and can give a really 

 terrible grip ; but I have never heard that it 



