HAWKS. 137 



animals, in defence of its young. It occurred in Yorkshire. 

 In the spring, a gentleman walking in the fields saw a small 

 Hawk attempting to fly off with some prey it had just 

 pounced upon, hut evidently prevented by the weight of its 

 capture from rising to any height above the ground. It 

 was pursued by a hare, which, whenever it came within her 

 reach, attacked it with her paws, and at last succeeded in 

 knocking it down, when it dropped its prey. At this moment 

 the gentleman ran forward, and the Hawk and its pursuer 

 both made their retreat ; upon his reaching the spot where the 

 prey had been dropped, he found it to be a fine leveret, which 

 at once explained the cause of the parent hare's gallant attack 

 on the Hawk. It was wounded on the side of the head, and 

 was bleeding, but the gentleman left it in a furrow, hoping 

 that the wound might not prove fatal, and that the mother 

 might find it, and reap the reward of her maternal attach- 

 ment. 



It may seem extraordinary that they should presume to 

 meddle with living things of their own size and weight, but 

 it is still more remarkable that they should occasionally wage 

 successful warfare with birds still larger than themselves, as, 

 for instance, with the Jay. Not long ago, some boys observed 

 a Hawk flying after a Jay, which, on reaching, it immediately 

 attacked, and both fell on a stubble-field, where the contest 

 appeared to be carried on ; the boys hastened up, but too late 

 to save the poor Jay, which was at the last gasp ; in the 

 agonies of death, however, it had contrived to infix and 

 entangle its claws so firmly in the Hawk's feathers, that the 

 latter, unable to escape, was carried off by the boys, who 

 brought it home, when, on examination, it proved to be a 

 Kestrel. The Sparrow-hawk of North America (Falco spar- 

 verius), which is more nearly allied to the Kestrel than ours, 

 is often known to attack the Blue Jay of that country. No 

 wonder that Jays have a great dislike to this Hawk, and 

 never fail to annoy it by every means in their power. Some- 

 times they will follow in order to plague it, and at other 

 times, they, by imitating its note, will deceive and draw it 

 from its haunts. In return for all this abuse, the Hawk now 



