56 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the male entered the plantation, it was just the same, so that, 

 when the cry issued at successive intervals from the same spot 

 amidst the foliage, I inferred that he was feeding, but when he 

 settled elsewhere, and the cry ceased, that he was merely 

 perched at his ease. In such inference, however, I may have 

 been very much mistaken. When the male hawk left the 

 plantation, I followed to the point of issue and stood at the edge, 

 looking over a cleared space, grown with bracken, with covert 

 on either side of it. Out of this latter, at a part where it was 

 represented by grown trees, as well as undergrowth, the hawk 

 presently went up with something in his claws, and I was at 

 once struck with the peculiar appearance of this object. It had 

 no resemblance to the body of a bird — such as should have been 

 quite recognizable through the glasses — but looked more like 

 something artificial, much smaller, and having a simple rounded 

 contour and hard outline. It was a disc-like object, and pre- 

 sented in the bird's claws the sort of appearance that a snuff- 

 box of that shape might have done. The hawk flew with this 

 over some small bushy trees and descended into one of them, 

 then in a few minutes rose again and flew, still carrying it, into 

 the plantation. I was then a little way from it, and so cannot 

 say what took place on his entry, or whether it was he or the 

 female that shortly afterwards flew from tree to tree, uttering 

 the cry exactly as I described before — failing, as I did, to obtain 

 a good view. 



I had a good view, before this, of the female, as she sat with 

 one leg lifted, and the foot with the claws contracted together, as 

 though closed upon some object (which, however, I could not 

 see) projecting from amidst the feathers of the lower breast. 

 Just here there was a deep crimson splotch, caused evidently by 

 the feathers being soaked in blood, and matted together. This 

 would not have come about through the process of eating, as 

 the hawk then stands upon its prey and bends its head down 

 upon it, but the feathers would be so stained, and just at that 

 height, by the bloody morsel being thus held up and pressed 

 against the breast. In this case the object, if held at all, was 

 quite small, so that I could not detect it, but the attitude would 

 have no particular meaning except as thus grasping something, 

 or at least as originating from it. 



