140 A YOUNG MARSH HAWK 



stronger young devour all the food before the 

 weaker member could obtain any? Probably 

 this was the case. 



Arthur brought the feeble nestling away, and 

 the same day my little boy got it and brought 

 it home, wrapped in a woolen rag. It was 

 clearly a starved bantling. It cried feebly, but 

 would not lift up its head. 



We first poured some warm milk down its 

 throat, which soon revived it, so that it would 

 swallow small bits of flesh. In a day or two 

 we had it eating ravenously, and its growth be- 

 came noticeable. Its voice had the sharp whis- 

 tling character of that of its parents, and was 

 stilled only when the bird was asleep. We 

 made a pen for it, about a yard square, in one 

 end of the study, covering the floor with several 

 thicknesses of newspapers; and here, upon a 

 bit of brown woolen blanket for a nest, the 

 hawk waxed strong day by day. An uglier- 

 looking pet, tested by all the rules we usually 

 apply to such things, w^ould have been hard to 

 find. There he would sit upon his elbows, his 

 helpless feet out in front of him, his great 

 featherless wings touching the floor, and shrilly 

 cry for more food. For a time we gave him 

 water daily from a stylograph-pen filler, but the 

 water he evidently did not need or relish. 

 Fresh meat, and plenty of it, was his demand. 

 And we soon discovered that he liked game, 

 such as mice, squirrels, birds, much better than 

 butcher's meat. 



Then began a lively campaign on the part of 



