140 WOODLAND CREATURES 



moved along the branch, and I saw that she 

 was preparing to drop on something. Down she 

 darted, but just before reaching the ground stopped 

 short, beat with her wings in the air, and hung 

 hovering for a moment or two just like a kestrel; 

 then, as a stoat darted out of the long grass, she 

 glided away to some railings. This is the only 

 time I have seen a sparrow hawk attempt to 

 hover, and it was, in this one instance, brought 

 about by the bird's sudden realization of the nature 

 of the creature she had been about to attack. She 

 evidently thought discretion the better part of 

 valour, and she was undoubtedly right, for a hawk 

 of this size would be no match for such a fierce 

 little animal. One result of her effort was to 

 restore her to good temper, and she then came 

 to me as obediently as if she had never had the 

 sulks. 



Only those who have attempted to tame and 

 train a sparrow hawk can realize what a nervous 

 highly strung bird it is. In olden times, in the 

 palmy days of falconry, every boy of good birth had 

 to learn the art of training a hawk by " making " 

 a sparrow hawk, or " spar-hawk " as it was then 

 called. The modern name is a corruption of 

 the old one, which meant the small or lesser hawk ; 

 in the same sense we still use the word " spare " 

 to indicate lack of quantity or quality. This 

 name was probably given because the spar-hawk 

 was so much smaller than the gos-hawk, which was 

 the only other short-winged hawk that was used 

 in falconry. Somehow or other this very apt 



