134 A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



Her mate came a moment after, but she did not 

 even appear in the doorway when he called. 

 Again he came, crying keek' keek' kick'-er' r f r r , 

 in tender falsetto ; but it was no use. Madame 

 Falco had had altogether too hard a time getting 

 in, to go out again in a hurry. He held a worm 

 in his bill till he was tired, changed it to his 

 claw, letting it dangle from that for a while ; 

 and then, as she would make no sign, finally 

 flew off. 



The next day we had another session with the 

 sparrow hawk. She had evidently profited by 

 experience. She did not fly at the hole in the 

 violent way she had done the day before, but 

 ambled along a limb to get as close to it as pos- 

 sible, and then quietly flew up. She made two 

 or three unsuccessful attempts to enter, but kept 

 at the branch, falling back but once. She got 

 half way in once or twice, but could not force her 

 wings through. She acted as if determined not 

 to give up, and at last, when she found herself 

 falling backwards, with a desperate effort drew 

 herself in. 



There was another sparrow hawk family across 

 the road from my ranch. In riding by one day, 

 I saw a youngster looking out from the nest hole 

 with big frightened eyes. Was it the only child, 

 or was it monopolizing the fresh air while its 

 brothers were smothering below? Another day 

 there were two heads in the window; one was 



