258 THE WINDHOVER HAWK. 
This hawk has received the name of windhover 
on account of his custom of hovering in the air. 
By the way, he is not the only bird which performs 
this curious evolution. The sparrowhawk, the barn- 
owl, the gull, and the kingfisher are often seen in a 
similar position. 
A little attention on the part of the beholder 
would soon enable him to distinguish the windhover 
from the sparrowhawk. The windhover, when in 
quest of food, glides softly through the air, at a 
moderate height, now poised in the breeze on flut- 
tering pinion, now resting in the void, apparently 
without motion ; till, at last, down he comes, like a 
falling stone, upon the unconscious prey below. 
But, should he be disappointed in his purpose, he 
rises again in elegant ascent, to seek for food else- 
where. The sparrowhawk, on the contrary, though 
he will sometimes hover in the air, still he usually 
secures his prey by means of a very quick pursuit. 
Both at early dawn and at the fall of night, he will 
dart past you with inconceivable velocity ; and then 
woe betide the luckless victim that attracts his 
eagle eye. This bird often makes his appearance 
at a tower which I have built for the starlings, and 
to which above fifty pairs of these birds resort during 
the spring of the year. His unwelcome visit causes 
a tremendous uproar. A universal shriek of horror 
announces his detested presence; and scarcely 
have I time to fix my eyes upon the tower, ere the 
intruder is off with a starling in his talons. 
Did the nurseryman, the farmer, and the country 
gentleman know the value of the windhover’s ser- 
