260 THE WINDHOVER HAWK. 
owls by night, to thin the swarms of mice which 
overrun the land. : 
As the windhovers make no nest, they are reduced 
to the necessity of occupying, at second hand, that 
of another bird. I once made the experiment to 
try if a windhover would take possession of a nest 
newly built; and, in order to prepare the way, I 
singled out the nest of a carrion crow. As soon as 
the crow had laid her third egg, I ascended the 
tree, and robbed the nest. In less than a week 
after this, a pair of windhovers took to it; and they 
reared a brood of young in its soft and woolly 
hollow. 
The windhover is a social bird, and, unlike most 
other hawks, it seems fond of taking up its abode 
near the haunts of men. What heartfelt pleasure 
I often experience in watching the evolutions of 
this handsome little falcon! and with what content I 
see the crow and the magpie forming their own nests, 
as I know that, on the return of another spring, these 
very nests will afford shelter to the windhover. 
Were I to allow the crow and the magpie to be per- 
secuted, there would be no chance for the windhover 
to rear its progeny here; for Nature has not taught 
this bird the art of making its nest in a tree. How 
astonishing, and how diversified, are the habits of 
birds! The windhover is never known to make 
use of a nest until it has been abandoned for good 
and all by the rightful owner; whilst, on the con- 
trary, the cuckoo lays her egg in one of which the 
original framer still retains pessession. 
The windhover usually lays five eggs, and one of 
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