16 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



is held passes through a hole in a piece of wood driven into 

 the ground, in the centre of a bow-net. The falconer has 

 also a decoy-pigeon, in a string at a little distance from the 

 hut, and half-a-dozen tame pigeons are placed on the outside 

 of the hut, which, on the sight of a hawk, immediately take 

 shelter within. The next, and most important adjunct in 

 the business, is the butcher-bird. He is placed on a hillock 

 of turf at a short distance from the hut, and is fastened by 

 a leather thong. The falconer, however, does not sacrifice 

 the life of his servant, but humanely makes a little hole 

 in the turf, into which the bird can escape when it chooses. 

 Having thus everything prepared, the falconer has nothing 

 to do but to sit in the hut, and watch the motions of the 

 grey shrike. Habit has sharpened the sight of this little 

 bird, and he descries his natural enemy long before the 

 falconer would be able to see it. At first, if a hawk is 

 approaching, the shrike exhibits a certain uneasiness, a 

 drawing-in of the feathers, and a fixed gaze in one direction, 

 the meaning of which the falconer knows well. Even when 

 the hawk is at the distance of three or four hundred yards, the 

 butcher-bird will scream with fear, and retreat into the hole 

 in the turf. The falconer then prepares his decoy, and 

 draws out the pigeons where the bow-nets are placed, which, 

 by fluttering round, soon attract the hawk, who swoops at 

 them, and is caught in the snare. Not only does the butcher- 

 bird give its master warning of the approach of the hawk, 

 but lets him know the species by the greater or lesser degree 

 of alarm which it exhibits." 



That magnificent vulture of South America, the great 

 condor of the Andes, is not exactly the kind of game that 

 would appear to lend itself most readily to the trapper's art. 

 " Two of these birds will attack a cow or llama and kill it 

 with their terrible beaks and claws," says the Rev. J. Or. 

 Wood, and, added to this strength and prowess, there is its 

 unparalleled power of flight, which enables it to hunt the 

 preserves of half-a-dozen states, cross vast, wild mountain 



