268 HASTY OBSERVATION 



to deceive the wary trout. One must pursue 

 the truth with the like patience and diligence. 



The farmers all think, or used to think, that 

 the hen-hawk was their enemy, but last spring 

 the Agricultural Department procured three 

 hundred hen-hawks, and examined the craw of 

 each of them, and made the valuable discovery 

 that this hawk subsisted almost entirely upon 

 meadow mice, thus proving them to be one of 

 the farmer's best friends. 



The crow, also, when our observations upon 

 his food habits are complete, is found to be a 

 friend, and not an enemy. The smaller hawks 

 do prey upon birds and chickens, though the 

 pretty little sparrow-hawk lives largely upon 

 insects. 



Gilbert White quotes the great Linnaeus as 

 saying that "Hawks make a truce with other 

 birds as long as the cuckoo is heard.'' This is 

 also a superstition. Watch closely, and you 

 will see the small hawks in pursuit of birds at 

 all seasons; and when a hawk pursues a bird, 

 or when one bird pursues another, it has the 

 power to tack and turn, and to time its move- 

 ments to that of the bird pursued, which is 

 quite marvelous. 



The sparrow might as well dodge its own 

 shadow as to dodge the sharp-shinned hawk. 

 It escapes, if at all, by rushing into a bush or 

 tree, where the movements of its enemy are im- 

 peded by the leaves and branches. 



Speaking of hawks, reminds me that I read 

 the other day in one of the magazines a very 



