VERMIN AND TRAPPING 99 
It is the habit of young sparrow-hawks at this age to 
mew for food precisely like kittens in sore distress. 
Here is an instance of the thoughtless killing of 
a hawk by a keeper. I was walking with an old 
keeper through one of his woods, and he was just 
telling me how his pheasants had been entirely free 
from attack by hawks, when I caught sight of that 
lime-washing which tells the story of a hawk’s brood 
above. I volunteered to climb a tall larch, three- 
quarters of the way up which was the nest. No 
sooner had I started to admire half a dozen young 
kestrels than bang! went the old fellow’s gun at a 
parent hawk swooping round my head. Fortunately, 
only the hawk was bagged. 
Neither shall I forget the first wounded sparrow- 
hawk which I handled, and I warn the inexperienced 
to be careful. It was a large female, and she was 
only winged. She struck her talons, each most 
horribly sharp and long, into my fingers, so that the 
more | tried to free them the worse it was. I will 
not try to remember how eventually I got them free 
of that terrible grip. But I have much pleasure 
in recording that a sign of a game-bird was most 
exceptional among the hosts of bird-victims brought 
to the hawk nestlings on my ground; nor do I 
think it can be proved that either sparrow-hawks 
or kestrels collectively take tribute of game for a 
tithe of the year’s food. . 
Hedgehogs are far more numerous, and do far 
7—2 
