ADVENTURES WITH BIRDS OF PREY 



121 



HALF ANGRY, HALF SCARED, IS THIS MONTH-OLD RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 



The Craigheads caught and trained one of these birds, but found that it was too sluggish in 

 flight to be desirable for falconry. When hunting, red-shouldered hawks perch on a dead tree or 

 other convenient lookout post, or soar in wide circles while watching for prey. 



three-quarters of an hour we located both 

 the ravens' and the duck hawks' nests 

 within seventy-five yards of each other. 



The falcon was sitting close, incubating 

 her eggs, and did not fly until the loose end 

 of our rope dangled in front of her. She 

 then left her eggs with a startled cry and 

 dived at us as we hurried down the rope. 

 Her screaming and diving only served to 

 guide us to her four mahogany-colored eggs. 



We left the hawk to return to the eggs 

 while we hunted the north face of the cliff 

 for the ravens' nest. We found several old 

 nests before locating the one containing 

 four scrawny, bedraggled-looking young 

 that seemed to be all mouth and voice. 

 The wise old ravens had slunk off and did 



not give their nest away by futile diving and 

 screaming, as did the bolder duck hawks. 



In photographing birds, we have found it 

 pays to gain their confidence step by step, 

 so instead of immediately building a blind 

 near the ravens' nest we roped our cameras 

 on the cliff near by, camouflaged them with 

 stones and moss, and arranged to snap the 

 shutter by means of a string running to a 

 blind at the foot of the cliff. 



The northern raven of the Eastern States 

 is one of the shyest, rarest, and smartest 

 of birds, so it was with a great deal of 

 foreboding and doubt that we entered our 

 blind to await the arrival of the old raven. 



The damp cold numbed our cramped 

 limbs and the minutes dragged away like 



