120 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



LEARNING TO FLY, YOUNG SPARROW HAWKS ARE FEARFUL OF THE TAKE-OFF 



Not yet old enough to hunt, these residents of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, are fed grasshoppers by 

 their parents. By eating caterpillars, beetles, spiders, and other insects, as well as mice, this smallest of 

 North American hawks benefits farmers. One, owned by the authors, was named "Bad Boy" (p. 117). 



For a number of years now a small group 

 of boys has been practicing falconry in 

 Washington, D. C. We catch, train, and 

 fly our hawks together. We use the old 

 falconers' terms, and train our hawks much 

 as they did, but we do not employ the same 

 kind of equipment nor hunt the same kind 

 of game. We fly our small hawks at Eng- 

 lish sparrows instead of larks. Our large 

 falcons we fly at starlings instead of grouse, 

 and at crows instead of rooks or herons 

 (page 118).^ 



Falconry in this country is by no means 

 confined to Washington. It is being prac- 

 ticed by enthusiastic followers in all parts 

 of the United States and is rapidly gaining 

 favor. We falconers receive numerous let- 



ters from all parts of the country asking us 

 how to train a hawk and where we get our 

 birds. 



PHOTOGRAPHING HAWK AND RAVEN 

 HOME LIFE 



One spring, a very good ornithologist 

 friend of ours, Mr. Richard Rauch, of 

 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, gave us some 

 valuable pointers in cliff climbing and told 

 us of a cliff in northern Pennsylvania where 

 a duck hawk and raven nested close to- 

 gether. We were especiall)' anxious to 

 photograph an old raven, because we could 

 find no record of this having been done. 



On April 24, with provisions for several 

 days, we arrived at the cliff. Inside of 



