14 SHARP EYES. 



Of the hen-hawk, he has observed that both male 

 and female take part in incubation. "I was rather 

 surprised," he says, " on one occasion, to see how 

 quickly they change places on the nest. The nesv. was 

 in a tall beech, and the leaves were not yet fully out. 

 I could see the head and neck of the hawk over the 

 edge of the nest, when I saw the other hawk coming 

 down through the air at full speed. I expected he 

 would alight near by, but instead of that he struck 

 directly upon the nest, his mate getting out of the 

 way barely in time to avoid being hit ; it seemed al- 

 most as if he had knocked her off the nest. I hardly 

 see how they can make such a rush on the nest with- 

 out danger to the eggs." 



The king-bird will worry the hawk as a whiffet dog 

 will worry a bear. It is by his persistence and au- 

 dacity, not by any injury he is capable of dealing his 

 great antagonist. The king-bird seldom more than 

 dogs the hawk, keeping above and between his wings, 

 and making a great ado ; but my correspondent says 

 he once " saw a king-bird riding on a hawk's back. 

 The hawk fiew as fast as possible, and the king- 

 bird sat upon his shoulders in triumph until they 

 had passed out of sight," — tweaking his feathers, no 

 doubt, and threatening to scalp him the next moment. 



That near relative of the king-bird, the great 

 crested fly-catcher, has one well known peculiarity : 

 lie appears never to consider his nest finished until it 

 contains a cast-off snake-skin. My alert correspon- 

 dent one day saw him eagerly catch up an onion skin 

 and make off with it, either deceived by it or else 

 thinking it a good substitute for the coveted material. 



One day in May, walking in the woods, I came 

 uj^on the nest of a whippoorwill, or rather its eggs* 



