l88 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



other both in kind and in degree. When arboreal 

 birds leave their sheltering trees they are exposed 

 to the attacks of Hawks, but they have fair oppor- 

 tunities of retreating to their coverts again ; and 

 the upward spring of the disappointed Falcon in 

 the air, when his quarry reaches the shelter of 

 trees, tells how effective such a retreat is, and how 

 completely it ends the chase. On the other hand, 

 there is a great variety of birds whose habitat is 

 the open plain — the desert — the unprotected shore 

 — the treeless moor — the stony mountain-top. 

 These are the favourite hunting-grounds of the 

 Eagles, and the Falcons, and the Hawks. There 

 they have free scope for their great powers of 

 wing, and uninterrupted range for their piercing 

 powers of sight. And it must be remembered, 

 that even the slowest of the Hawks can on 'such 

 ground capture with ease birds which when once 

 on the wing could distance their pursuer by supe- 

 rior speed, because the Hawk, sweeping over the 

 ground, takes the prey at a disadvantage, pouncing 

 on it before it can get fairly into the air. Birds 

 whose habitat is thus exposed could not maintain 

 their existence at all without special means of con- 



