112 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



ONLY THREE WEEKS OLD, COOPI^R S HAWKS ALREADY "FEEL THEIR OATS 



Of all the birds trained by the Craigheads, these fierce and aspressive hawl<s were the most difficult 

 to handle (page 109). With a week's growth of feathers, the young on this nest in Virginia, near 

 Washington, D. C, are able to flutter from limb to limb and will soon be flying from tree to tree. 



ers. Incidentally, in hunting with falcons, 

 the game has a lot more than a fifty-fifty 

 chance; probably nearer eighty-twenty. 



A PIGEON FOOLS A HAWK 



The first time one of our hawks flew at 

 game she was fooled completely. Her keen 

 eyes sighted a flock of pigeons in a wheat 

 stubble field, and she headed for the spot 

 at top speed. Seeing their danger, the 

 pigeons were off, "every man for himself." 

 The hawk went for the one that had been 

 the last to take the air. 



The pigeon, with at least a hundred 

 yards start, flew straight for a barn. With 

 the hawk in pursuit, he whizzed through 

 one door and out another on the opposite 



side. There the wily old bird banked 

 sharply, flew around the barn, went in the 

 first door and hid up among the rafters. 

 The inexperienced hawk was utterly 

 baffled. She had lost the pigeon when it 

 made the turn. She flew to the edge of 

 the barn and perched there, as if too 

 ashamed to come down. Finally she did 

 return, and thereafter she gave a much 

 better account of herself, turning out to 

 be a far more effective hunter than her 

 sister. We named her "Comet." 



COMET LIKED RABBIT HUNTING 



Hawks, we found, vary individually as 

 much as people. Some are lacking in spirit, 

 puny, slow. Some are much faster than 



