TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 113 



lested with a sliot but, being an ex- 

 traordinary good specimen, re- 

 sembling closely some type of 

 eagle, I quickly ran up to the 

 hawk and managed to catch him 

 by the uninjured wing, and re- 

 placed him thus to the place in 

 front of the lara'e eaCtus pile with 

 the remnants of the rabbit, where 

 T prepared the photograph seen 

 here, in presence of W. A. Koepp. 

 Jr., one of our hunting party. 



The hawk was of a beautiful 

 dark bluish gray color, with dark 

 and yellowish brown striped 

 feathers along its breast, inside 

 wings and feet — the latter being 

 siipplied with a pair of powerful 

 talons ; and it was a magnificent 

 sight as the sturdy hawk stood 

 erect and in all its majesty, in 

 front of the thorny cactus pile, 

 when a quick snap-shot secured 

 his picture. 



Wounded Prarie Hawk 



I herewith reproduce a fine 

 specimen of a Texas prairie hawk 

 encountered in the vicinity of Cas- 

 sin's lake. While hunting for 

 small game about half a mile east 

 of the lake, in a hilly region 

 abounding with rabbits, etc., sud- 

 denly a large hawk flew over our 

 heads, carrying a small bird in its 

 claws. At first it was quite out 

 of shooting range, but after a few 

 circular flights it gradually neared 

 the spot where the writer was 

 standing and, flying clear over- 

 head. With a quick aim the hawk 

 came down in a cactus jungle, 

 wounded in one of its wings and 

 optic, and still holding its victim 

 in its clutches. A hunting com- 

 panion being present, we man- 

 aged to carefuUj' bring the hawk 

 to our camp and, havings our 

 trusty camera with us, the hawk 

 sitill exceedingly alive, and wit^ 

 its claws imbedded in the bird's 

 flesh, was placed on a large 

 stump, adjoining a huge pecan 

 tree (after previously placing the 

 camera and focusing the stump 

 and its side branches) and a snap- 

 shot was taken at the moment the 

 hawk flapped its wings. Mr. A. 

 Haubold of San Antonio assisted 

 in taking this view — at quite close 

 range, after which the hawk was 

 given its liberty — or, rather, in 

 trying to place it from the stump 



on the ground it made a long 

 leap and hopped toward the near- 

 by and high river bank — close to 

 our camp — where it managed to 

 leap down the embankment, and 

 escaped along some ravines below. 



The hawk was an unusually fine 

 specimen and perhaps he is still 

 roaming around the jungles after 

 prey, as the wing was not entire- 

 ly broken — and we all know how 

 tenacious these hawks are — even 

 after a seemingly mortal wound. 



Our prairie plains and forest- 

 harbor a large variety of beauti- 

 ful hawks, and it always affords 

 the hunter a great sight when the 

 hawks circle around or roam about 

 for their prey; and also, and 

 particular, when, in late fall, these 

 hawks gather in large numbers — 

 hundreds of them — to start their 

 migratory flights to other climes. 

 During an outing last fall, one 

 such migratory hawk -flight was 

 witnessed — as well as the migra- 

 tion of immense swarms of the 

 bull-bat birds. The latter hap- 

 pened along one of the large open 

 fields south of the Espada Mis- 

 sion, when a most fascinating 

 sight met our eyes! We were 

 homeward bound, toward sun- 

 down, when hundreds and thous- 

 ands of bullbats filled the air and 

 roamed over the fields — circling 

 and gathering closer and closer. 



