TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 115 



however, as well as places abound- 

 ing with game or plenty of small 

 birds — as well as near farmhouses 

 having plenty chicks — the prairie 

 hawk roams about numerously, 

 and woe to the bird, chicken or 

 small rabbit that is not quick 

 enough to dodge the hawk's claws 

 — grab he will! He carries his 

 victim in his claws to some nearby 

 tree, or in a field, perhaps on top 



the Medina river near Geronimo. 

 They were the size of a large, fully 

 outstretched hand, with fearfully 

 long and curved claws and indicat- 

 ing the iron grip its owner posses- 

 sed. The smaller types of Texas 

 prairie hawks are quite conspicu- 

 ous around farms and prairie 

 plains, and besides small birds, 

 they also are fond of insects, es- 

 pecially grasshoppers. One es- 



Thb Palm of a Hawk's Foot 



of a haystack or a fodder-pile, etc., 

 and there ends his meal. Some very 

 large and very fat hawks can be 

 seen along the shores of Mitchell's 

 lake, where hawks of all sorts and 

 types are very numerous, and 

 where they have occasion to feed 

 on stray and wounded ducks and 

 other waterfowl. The largest hawk 

 feet I recollect having ever seen 

 were those of a fish hawk, out on 



Outside of Same Foot 



pecial small type of hawks — the 

 so-called "sparrow-hawk"' which 

 resembles somewhat a mocking 

 bird, but is smaller and broader 

 built, with a thick curved hawk 

 bill and claws, and of light bluish 

 and black and snow-white plum- 

 age, is, often seen roaming around 

 the hunting grounds in search of 

 its prey — small "birds and insects, 

 and it is characteristic by its pecu- 

 liar flight — in a straight line — and 



