184 IWCT AGAINST FK.'TIOX. 



if that very destructive vermin to game, the 

 spaiTowhawk, is on my premises or not. The 

 hawkj aware of tlic many starlings that come 

 into roost, with a quick and noiseless flight slides 

 beneath all boughs, and suddenly ascends to 

 the laurels or ever-green oak, and sits as still 

 as the bough he is on till some restless and 

 chattering starling gets within his reach. The 

 starlings, however, very soon get aroused to 

 tlieir danger, and they keep a watch after they 

 come in, to see what becomes of the liawdc, and 

 by the precaution they adopt they l)ring me as 

 an able ally, with my gun, to tlieir assistance. 

 If it is time for the starlings to be cliattering to 

 each other in tlieir selected bushes for roost, and 

 silence reigns, and they are not there, then they 

 have, by their vigil, been made aware of the pre- 

 sence of the hawk, and, mounting liigli in air, they 

 keejD soaring around in flocks, watching for the 

 hawk to take his departure. 



It is, of course, impossible to say in which 

 direction the hawk will go, when he has to seek 

 his own roost, so that in aid of the starlings, or 

 rather to be rid of a bad vermin, myself and my 

 men can only post ourselves at a venture, many 



