BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



they are known to take long flights. Nuttall relates an in- 

 stance of one of this family, a Canary falcon, that was sent 

 to the Duke of Lerma, and that returned in sixteen hours 

 from Andalusia to the Island of Teneriffe, a distance of 

 seven hundred and fifty miles. It is said that were it not 

 for the power of inflation, not of the lungs alone, but of their 

 whole bodies, the swiftness with which these, as well as some 

 other birds, move through the air, would cause suffocation. 



The esthetic value of the hawk lies wholly in his 

 sublimity of flight and in his majesty of form and attractive- 

 ness of color, for no beautiful Dryad ever taught him to sing. 

 Even his love notes are uttered in strident, raucous tones, 

 harsh as the jay's muster call, but happily they are under- 

 stood by his sympathetic mate, who knows the heart of her 

 lord, who has improved on the ways of the founder of the 

 family. With them as with other rapacious birds, the con- 

 jugal bond is perpetual. 



As we come to know these picturesque birds better we 

 learn that they, in common with all other living creatures, 

 have both their faults and their merits. Though through 

 their fondness for flesh many a downy chick fails to reach 

 maturity, many a timeful warbler is called to his reward, and 

 the billowy trail of song following many a goldfinch becomes 

 only a memory echo, were it not for their assistance our 

 farms would soon be overrun by pests impossible to hold in 

 check by artificial means. When even the worst of hawks 

 are weighed in the balance the greatest weight will be f oimd, 

 invariably, upon the side of beneficent service. 



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