BIRDS OF PREY 165 



shower with their wings. The flappers give tongue 

 as well, and try to dive ; but the water where they 

 have been dabbling is too shallow for them to do i 

 effectually. The hawk clutches one by the tail and 

 lifts him clear off the water. The tail comes out, 

 and down goes the poor flapper with a squattering 

 splash. The others have scuttled to cover, and this 

 unfortunate one tries to do the same by flapping 

 over the surface. The hawk has recovered position 

 again, and the feathers are released from his grasp 

 to come floating down on the water. With a 

 dipping pounce he comes for the poor thing just as 

 it is close to cover, grips it between the shoulders, 

 and has it for supper. The terns, although quite 

 able to baffle the intruder by their shuttlecock flight 

 have vanished at the top of their speed, and the 

 pewits also have gone to finish their toilet elsewhere. 

 Not far away, however, for we can hear them calling 

 uneasily to each other, and soon they rise from the 

 ground by twos and threes with a short jerky spring, 

 to settle again directly. 



The reason for their restlessness is soon apparent, 

 for overhead is the mate of the harrier that captured 

 the flapper. Lower down comes she, just over the 

 pewits. They can bear it no longer ; up they start 

 in a tumbling, hurry-scurry flight, flying close to the 



