258 THE WINDHOVER HAWK. 



This hawk has received the name of windhover 

 on account of his custom of hovering in the air. 

 By the way, he is not the only bird which performs 

 this curious evolution. The sparrowhawk, the barn- 

 owl, the gull, and the kingfisher are often seen in a 

 similar position. 



A little attention on the part of the beholder 

 would soon enable him to distinguish the windhover 

 from the sparrowhawk. The windhover, when in 

 quest of food, glides softly through the air, at a 

 moderate height, now poised in the breeze on flut- 

 tering pinion, now resting in the void, apparently 

 without motion ; till, at last, down he comes, like a 

 falling stone, upon the unconscious prey below. 

 But, should he be disappointed in his purpose, he 

 rises again in elegant ascent, to seek for food else- 

 where. The sparrowhawk, on the contrary, though 

 he will sometimes hover in the air, still he usuall 

 secures his prey by means of a very quick pursuit. 

 Both at early dawn and at the fall of night, he will 

 dart past you with inconceivable velocity ; and then 

 woe betide the luckless victim that attracts his 

 eagle eye. This bird often makes his appearance 

 at a tower which I have built for the starlings, and 

 to which above fifty pairs of these birds resort during 

 the spring of the year. His unwelcome visit causes 

 a tremendous uproar. A universal shriek of horror 

 announces his detested presence; and scarcely 

 have I time to fix my eyes upon the tower, ere the 

 intruder is off with a starling in his talons. 



Did the nurseryman, the farmer, and the country 

 gentleman know the value of the windhover's ser- 



