CAPTURE OF THE GANG. 73 



saw and counted the victims myself, all of which 

 had evidently been killed by a bird of prey. 



" The last operation of Denyer was to shoot the 

 young sparrowhawks, which, although nearly full- 

 grown and capable of flying, were unable to pro- 

 vide themselves with food. This he effected by 

 remaining quietly under the tree, until the birds, 

 whose gradually increasing hunger was evinced 

 by their louder and more frequent cries, by de- 

 grees approached nearer to the nest, and were 

 shot one after another to the number of five." 



Now, what strikes me as more especially 

 worthy of notice in this case, is the fact that the 

 young birds are not supplied with food at a dis- 

 tance from the nest after they have left it, but that 

 while these yet haunt its neighbourhood, and are 

 still incapable of providing for themselves, the old 

 ones convert it at once into a larder and refectory, 

 which they stock with a constant supply of freshly- 

 killed prey, to which the others resort when 

 pressed by hunger, and are there fed by their 

 parents, and probably receive their first lessons in 

 the art of plucking and breaking up their dinner. 



This will appear to be a wise provision of Na- 

 ture, if we reflect upon the difficulties and delays 

 that would attend the operation of feeding the 

 young birds separately at this stage of their 

 existence when their appetite is probably the 



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