Birds of Prey, 123 



almost brush against his talons. Perhaps he has the 

 palate of an epicure, and likes to vary the dish of flesh 

 torn alive from the breast of partridge, chicken, or 

 mouse. He does not eat all he kills ; he will some- 

 times carry a bird a considerable distance and then 

 drop the poor thing. Only recently I saw a hawk, 

 pursued by twenty or thirty finches, and other birds 

 across a ploughed field, suddenly drop a bird from 

 his claws as he passed over a hedge. The bird fell 

 almost perpendicularly, with a slight fluttering of 

 the wings, just sufficient to preserve it from turning 

 head-over-heels, and on reaching the hedge could not 

 hold to the first branches, but brought up on one near 

 the ground. It was a sparrow, and was not appar- 

 ently hurt — simply breathless from fright. 



All kinds of birds are sometimes seen with the 

 tail feathers gone : have they barely escaped in this 

 condition from the clutches of the hawk ? Blackbirds, 

 thrushes, and pigeons are frequently struck : the hawk 

 seems to lay them on the back, for if he is disturbed 

 that is the position his victim usually remains in. 

 Though hawks do not devour every morsel, yet as a 

 rule nothing is found but the feathers — usually scat- 

 tered in a circle. Even the bones disappear : probably 

 ground vermin make away with the fragments. 



The hawk is not always successful in disabling his 



