TAMED HAWKS. 141 



from their stings. There can be no longer any doubt as to 

 the truth, one having been lately shot in the parish of Stoke 

 Nayland, in Suffolk, by a person who saw it first on the 

 ground near several wasps' nests, and who, on dissecting it, 

 found both in its craw and stomach a quantity of wasps and 

 their grubs, with a few small beetles. As nobody has had 

 the good fortune to see one of these birds in the act of feed- 

 ing, it is impossible to ascertain how it makes its way without 

 being injured into the interior of the wasps' nest, which it 

 must do in order to get at the grubs, which are concealed in 

 the very middle of the combs. The head and throat are sur- 

 rounded with a clothing of remarkably thick, and rather stiff 

 feathers, which may probably be intended as a protection. 

 From the date named, October 12, when this bird was shot, 

 it might be imagined that it attacked those nests only which 

 had been partly destroyed, or deserted by the wasps, which so 

 late in the season were beginning to get feeble ; but this is 

 not correct, as they have been seen just as busy about hives 

 and wasps' nests in the breeding season, when these insects 

 are in full strength and vigour. How the Hawk contrives to 

 make his way into the comb is also difficult to understand, 

 though, as the legs and claws of this bird were very dirty even 

 to the knee, he most probably uses them as fowls do in dung- 

 hills, to scratch away the soil. 



Bold, and apparently savage and cruel as is the disposition 

 of the Hawk tribe, occasional instances are to be found of 

 their manifesting something like kindness and good-will 

 towards birds, where such a disposition might be little ex- 

 pected. Even the Sparrow-hawk, which by some has been 

 considered of so savage and wild a nature, as to render all 

 means for taming it hopeless, has, nevertheless, in the hands 

 of more able or patient guardians, proved not only docile, but 

 amiable in its disposition. About four years ago a young 

 Sparrow-hawk was procured and brought up by a person who 

 was fond of rearing a particular breed of Pigeons, which he 

 greatly prized on account of their rarity. By good manage- 

 ment and kindness, he so far overcame the natural disposition 

 of this Hawk, that in time it formed a friendship with the 



