108 COMMON BIRDS. 



in admiration, it ascended, without any perceptible 

 motion of the wings and in a series of circular sweeps, 

 higher and higher, till it dwindled to a mere speck, and 

 finally disappeared in the deep blue above. 



I was fortunate also in twice seeing during an un- 

 usually hot summer the somewhat rare swallow-tail 

 or musquito-hawk,* in the neighbourhood of St. Davids, 

 soaring in pursuit of insects, and performing the most 

 singular and graceful evolutions. It has a most beautiful 

 black and white plumage, with very elegant form, and 

 is not often seen in such high latitudes, being peculiar 

 to the Southern States. 



There are a number of hawks of the more ordinary 

 kinds, most of which are either similar to or varieties 

 of those common to own country : as the peregrine, 

 goshawk, and merlin; and there would be no difficulty 

 in training them for the purposes of hawking : a sport 

 for the pursuit of which the cultivated parts of the 

 country are admirably adapted. 



Owls of different kinds inhabit nearly every wood, 

 waking the echoes at night, with loud unearthly cries 

 and melancholy hootings, startling alike the settler in 

 his lonely hut, the hunter at his fire, and the belated 

 traveller who hurries along the gloomy forest track. 



* Nauclerus furcatus. 



