82 



'\MERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Fig. 2. 



THE COMBAT. 



Perhaps those who guessed wrong as to the live bird in Fig. 1, may like to try again 

 and make up their minds before reading farther, which of the above is alive. It is pos- 

 sible, too, that a few who were right before may make a mistake this time. 



Pidgy, and by the way, this name became associated with him instead 

 of his whole name of Pigeon Hawk, was a beautiful bird, a trifle larger 

 than the Sparrow Hawk. He had the brightest of bright brown eyes, and 

 his yellow legs, though slender, contained sinews of steel. Woe to the 

 creature that fell into the grasp of those sharp, black, needle-like claws. 

 His back was just changing from the brownish color that denotes youth 

 in these birds, to the blue gray of maturity. 



What's that noise.^ 



A small cord attached to his leg with a piece of chamois, served to 

 keep him within reasonable distance of an old stump that we keep on 

 hand for transient visitors. At first he was bashful about accepting the 

 piece of meat that I tendered him, but a few hours later he concluded 

 that he would satisfy his hunger even in the presence of spectators. 

 The way having now been paved, our friendship grew apace. How his 

 eyes would glisten when he saw me cutting up his meat, and how eag- 



