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Burns—Own Broavd-wiINnceD HAwek. 219 
ing board, evidently waiting to be fed. The fat of beef, or mut- 
ton was invariably rejected, beef liver and lights, toads, fish, 
the body of an owl, and tainted meat were not to its liking un- 
less it was very-hungery. Large, fat, corn-fed meadow mice 
and fresh, warm sparrows appeared the favorite food, though 
any species of mouse or mole, rat, skunk, rabbit, squirrel, kit- 
ten, puppy. chicken, snakes, frog, lizard, turtle, crayfish, insect, 
and scraps of raw beef were eaten eagerly Live food was pref- 
erable to dead food, always; and anything larger than a young 
rat usually had to be slit up the breast to enable it to get at 
the flesh. In all the years I kept this and others captives, not a 
drop of water was consumed directly. This bird would occasion- 
ally hop awkwardly about the ground snapping at flies and bugs. 
Two or three meals daily, after it had attained its growth, 
seemed to keep it in good condition If a meal was occasionally 
dropped, it would often be hungry enough to blanket the first 
few morsels, from which I infer that this action relates more 
intimately to an instinctive fear of being robbed of its food | 
than to timidity of being observed; however, it always abso- 
lutely refused to eat in the presence of any one but myself. 
When desperately hungry it would carry a bit of bone, wood 
or any foreign object it could gather from the ground to its 
feeding board; or a bit of rabbit skin was plucked free from 
fur and the skin eaten.’ By the third week in September when 
its brethern were retiring southward, it attempted to obey the 
“call of the wild,” refused to eat and beat ceaslessly against 
the wire of its enclosure until its cere was bleeding and fore- 
head bare of feathers. A small, dead viper afforded it some 
lively amusement, and though it had probably never seen the 
like before, it displayed an instinctive caution in disposing of 
it Stretching head and neck to ascertain what sort of food it 
had before it, it instantly sprang upon the reptile, catching it 
in its left foot, and with poised wings, whirled around with 
raised right foot, evidently eying its prey for a possible strike; 
as usual with all prey, its head was first torn off and eaten. The 
quickness of the bird is wonderful, now and then it strikes 
my fingers before I can throw the food upon the stand, and the 
