A SOLITARY SPARROW-HAWK 323 



able to "take things easily"; and does he, on 

 leaving his roost each morning, fly up at once, high 

 in air, till he has got beyond the reach of the foes 

 who would take his blood, and then, after living, at 

 free quarters, in a district where experience has taught 

 him that there are no such foes, does he return, with 

 similar precautions, still high in air, and drop 

 straight down on his sanctuary at nightfall ? In any 

 case, to have escaped, for so long a time, the eighteen 

 gamekeepers of the Milton Abbey estate, he must 

 have had the proverbial nine, nay, twice the nine 

 lives of the cat. 



I throw out these observations on what I believe 

 to be "hermit birds" for what they may be 

 worth, hoping that some one may be able to 

 illustrate them further. 



Sir Humphry Davy, in his Salmonia, remarks 

 upon the curious connection, which he thought he 

 had observed, between the appearance of a single 

 magpie and a bad day's sport in fishing. " For 

 anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see 

 single magpies but two may be always 

 regarded as a favourable omen and the reason is 

 that, in cold and stormy weather, one magpie 

 alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other 

 remaining sitting upon the eggs, or the young 



