FEBRUARY. 23 



themselves across the sky when other small birds 

 dive for shelter into the hedges will generally escape 

 in the end, if the flight is prolonged. 



THE CHANCES OF THE FALCON. 



For it is always the first stoop of the little falcon 

 which is most deadly ; and after two or three misses 

 it seems to continue the chase in a spirit of vexation 

 only, making quick, successive dashes at its quarry 

 from angles where failure is certain. For of two 

 birds flying at much the same level it would be 

 strange if the pursued, by dodging, could not neu- 

 tralize the pursuer's superiority in speed. See how 

 many times a hare will elude a greyhound, although 

 it is obliged to remain on the same plane as its 

 enemy. If the hare could, like a bird in the air, 

 dodge up aloft or down below, as well as to right 

 or left, the greyhound would never catch it. The 

 hawk's great chance lies, therefore, either in flinging 

 itself upon its prey by the momentum of its first 

 sudden entry upon the scene, or else in discovering 

 a victim flying at a much lower level than itself, 

 when the accelerated speed of its long gliding de- 

 scent may make even the most frantic attempt to 

 dodge its lightning stroke a failure. 



CHASE OF A PEEWIT. 



When the merlin, favoured by the landscape, 

 comes suddenly over the brow of an upland on whose 

 lower slopes peewits are feeding, you may see most 

 marvellous feats of aerial agility ; for the merlin 



