DE3TE0XING BIHDS.] 



POULTET. 



[destkoting bieds. 



killed, but I never trapped the cock sparrow- 

 hawk at the remains of a grouse or partridge, 

 although I have frequently taken him with the 

 remains of small birds that he had killed ; I have 

 known a sparrow-hawk take nine grouse poults 

 to her nest in less than twenty-four hours. 

 I have seen the sparrow-hawk, build for years 

 in succession in the same tree, although the 

 hen bird was killed every year, and sometimes 

 both birds. They sometimes build in an old 

 hoddie's nest When they build for them- 

 selves, their nest is very similar to that of a 

 wood pigeon." 



Here is an instance, amongst others that we 

 liave already adduced in the progress of this 

 work, of the exterminating war which is 

 occasionally made upon certain species of the 

 lower kinds of animals ; these, howevei'^ some- 

 times find defenders, and several rose up to 

 propitiate mercy for the doomed hawks. One 

 who signs himself " Merlin," says — " Of your 

 numerous correspondents who have given 

 their vote against the poor hawks, but one 

 has attempted to discriminate betwixt the 

 different species ; and, although describing 

 the most fatal mode by which each may be 

 destroyed, he has not pointed out those against 

 which game-preservers have no just cause of 

 complain'." 



In woodlands, the female sparrow-hawk, and 

 on moors the hen-harrier (called sometimes 

 the ringtail and glead), are the only species 

 deserving of death for any breach of the game- 

 laws. Tlie former bird does destroy a few 

 partridges and young pheasants during the 

 summer and early autumn (although its prin- 

 cipal quariy is the young wood and house- 

 pigeon) ; the hen-harrier anything it can meet 

 with, from a grouse to a frog upon the ground, 

 over which it makes its daily beat. Against 

 these birds, the pole-trap, so generally recom- 

 mended, is almost useless, although certain to 

 capture the harmless mouse-hunting little 

 kestrel, as also the equally harmless long-eared 

 owl, particularly when baited, as one corres- 

 pondent advises, with a liviug mouse, which, 

 he tells us, "is certain death to any hawk in 

 the neighbourhood." One would have thought 

 that this fact alone was sufficient to enlishteu 

 the writer as to the usual objects of pursuit 

 amongst the birds he would exterminate. To 

 the agriculturists the little hawks are of the 

 812 



greatest service, by destroying, in the courso 

 of the year, immense numbers of these true 

 " pests of the farm ;" and if they ever do inter- 

 fere with the game-owner's property, it is by 

 picking up a half-dead chick or two, artificially 

 reared under a hen confined to the coop, and 

 therefore incapable of defending her charges. 

 To game, in a state of nature, they do no injury 

 whatever. At certain seasons of the year, it 

 would do little local good, even supposing all the 

 charges against the birds were true, to destroy 

 every hawk over a tract of country ; because, 

 being, like others of their feathered brethren, 

 more or less migratory birds, the majority of 

 tliose which, during the breeding season, fre- 

 quent our woods and wilds, and elsewhere, 

 and the comparatively few which remain in 

 this country, shift their quarters before that 

 period arrives. 



We know how useless it is to attempt to argue 

 against prejudice, and therefore shall refrain 

 from pointing out how much enjoyment to the 

 lovers of animated nature — and these are not 

 a few — the presence of some of these victims 

 to the game-keepers' art in the smiling land- 

 scape affords — particularly when, to this pre- 

 judice, is added the feeling which could prompt 

 one writer to advocate the hanging of human 

 transgressors " on the first lamp-post ;" and in 

 a subsequent epistle, when treating on his 

 feathered foes, to recommend that the chain, 

 by which the trap is secured to the pole, should 

 be fastened about a foot from the top ; by which 

 humane contrivance, the hawk, when caught, 

 is suspended mid-air by the mangled limb. 



As there are a few remaining who still 

 retain a love for the use of these birds, in the 

 management of which, activity, both of body 

 and mind, is required, ib might be suggested to 

 those who will catch them, that by the use of 

 small traps without teeth, and where the jaws 

 do not quite close, and are wrapped with some 

 soft substance, as tow, profit may be combined 

 with humanity ; as they would find a ready 

 sale of such birds as the peregrine, hobby, or 

 merlin, if offered with unbroken limbs. 



Were it not for the gamekeeper and the 

 sportsman, the red-legged would soon get the 

 upper hand of the grey partridge in many 

 English counties; the Norway rat has made 

 the black old English rat exceedingly scarce ; 

 and the mute swau of our parks and streaiua, 



