JUNE JOYS 143 



A transit by rail seemed not to have improved 

 her temper, for, when the box was opened, she 

 attacked my gloved hand with bill and feet at once, 

 shrieking all the while, and generally behaving 

 diabolically. 



She was placed in a large circular cage of wire 

 netting, in which the rough branch of a tree offered 

 a natural perch. The openings in the wire were 

 only an inch across, yet she could easily snatch 

 with her foot a piece of meat held three or four 

 inches from it, though, in order to do this, she had 

 to double the claws of one foot into a little fist, and 

 thrust this through some selected aperture much 

 lower than the line of sight. The rapidity and 

 accuracy of the action indicated a marvellously 

 acute judgment of distance. Some tame owls had 

 formerly exhibited the same skill, which is doubt- 

 less prevalent among birds accustomed, even when 

 flying at their utmost speed, to capture prey by 

 their feet. Later, she was taken from the cage, 

 and placed in jesses and leash. Jesses are little 

 straps noosed on the legs of a hawk in such a way 

 that they cannot tighten, nor be undone by the 

 bird ; and they are joined by a swivel to the leash. 



