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THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



or never eat of any thing that it has not itself killed, and 

 even that, if not (as epicures would term it) in good eating 

 order, is sometimes rejected. A very respectable friend, 

 through the medium of Mr. Bartrani, informs me, that one 

 morning he observed one of these Hawks dart down on the 

 ground, and seize a mouse, which he carried to a fence post; 

 where, after examining it for some time, he left it; and a 

 little while after, pounced upon another mouse, which he 

 instantly carried off to his nest, in the hollow of a tree hard 

 by. The gentleman, anxious to know why the Hawk had 

 rejected the first mouse, went up to it, and found it to be 

 almost covered with lice, and greatly emaciated! Here was 

 not only delicacy of taste, but sound and prudent reason- 

 ing. — <' If I carry this to my nest," thought he, "it will 

 fill it with vermin, and hardly be worth eating." 



" The Blue Jays have a particular antipathy to this bird, 

 and frequently insult it by following and imitating its notes 

 so exactly as to deceive even those well acquainted with 

 both. In return for all this abuse the Hawk contents him- 

 self with, now and then, feasting on the plumpest of his 

 ])ersecutors; who are therefore in perpetual dread of him; 

 and yet, through some strange infatuation, or from fear that 

 if they lose sight of him he may attack them unawares, the 

 Sparrow Hawk no sooner appears than the alarm is given, 

 and the whole posse of Jays follow. 



" The female of this species, which is here faithfully re- 

 presented from a very beautiful specimen, is eleven inches 

 long, and twenty-three from tip to tip of the expanded 

 wings. The cere and legs are yellow; bill blue, tipped with 

 black; space round tlie eye greenish blue; iris deep dusky; 

 head bluish ash; crown rufous; seven spots of black, on a 

 white ground, surround the head in the manner represented 

 in the figure; whole upper parts reddish bay, transversely 

 streaked with black; primary and secondary quills black, 

 spotted on their inner vanes with brownish white; whole 

 lower parts yellowish white, marked with longitudinal 

 streaks of brown, except the chin, vent, and femoral feathers, 

 which are white; claws black. 



" The character of the male corresponds with that of the 

 female. I have reason, however, to believe, that these 

 birds vary considerably in the colour and markings of their 

 plumage during the first and second years, having met with 

 specimens every way corresponding with the above, except 

 in the breast, which was a plain rufous white, without spots; 

 the markings on the tail also differing a little in different 

 specimens. These I uniformly found on dissection to be 

 males; from the stomach of one of which I took a conside- 

 rable part of the carcass of a Robin ( Turdus migratorius) 

 including the unbroken feet and claws; though the Robin 

 actually measures within half an inch as long as the Sparrow 

 Hawk." 



AN ATTEMPT AT DOMESTICATING 



THE PARTRIDGE, OR QUAIL. 



PERDIX VIRGINMNUS. 



My Dear Sir, 



You have had the kindness to send me the numbers of the 

 " Cabinet of Natural History," as far as they have been pub- 

 lished; and, I assure you, their contents have amused and 

 instructed me. The Editors appear to have studied, where 

 every lover of Nature delights to study, in the fields and the 

 forests; and I feel so desirous of their success in exciting, 

 among the community, a greater fondness for the study of 

 Natural History, than has heretofore been exhibited, that I 

 have ventured to look over a hasty and imperfect diary, in 

 which I have occasionally noted down any circumstance in 

 relation to that fascinating science, that appeared new to me, 

 with the intention of sending one or two communications 

 to you; and if you, or the Editors, should deem them suf- 

 ficiently interesting for the " Cabinet," they are at your 

 service. You have, however, reminded me of an experi- 

 ment, which has, for a year past, been progressing almost 

 under your eye; and as I cannot, at this moment, recollect 

 any thing upon the subject of Natural History, which inte- 

 rests me more than this, I proceed to communicate it, giv- 

 ing your name as a voucher for the accuracy of my state- 

 ments. 



Having been informed, that the Partridge of the southern 

 States (one of the most interesting game birds of the country) 

 had been sometimes reared by the common hen, and had 

 remained half-domesticated until by accident it was lost, or 

 through neglect suffered to stray awa}', I made several at- 

 tempts to domesticate it. Upon two occasions I procured 

 eggs, and had them hatched without difficultj^, under a com- 

 mon hen; but when they were about half grown, I removed 

 from the city, and continued absent during the summer; 

 upon my return in autumn, I found that my servants, class- 

 ing them with the unproductive and troublesome append- 

 ages of the establishment, had neglected them, and they had 

 disappeared. 



The last year, (1830,) however, I resolved to try the ex- 

 periment again; and I am about to acquaint }^ou with the re- 

 sult. I found greater difficulty in procuring the eggs than 

 I had anticipated; but on the 25th of May, a friend sent me 

 sixteen from the country, and upon the same day they were 

 placed under a Bantam hen, which, upon the evening of the 

 twenty-sixth day's sitting, hatched fifteen of them; but to 

 my great surprise, she commenced swallowing those which 

 were not yet dry, and before I had arranged a suitable place 

 for herself and the little brood, she had devoured all but 



