180 INSESSORES. 



rises witli an easy curve and alights with the utmost 

 grace, closing its wings with the rapidity of thought. 

 Sometimes a Sparrow or Finch crosses its pathway, 

 when the little Hawk, all anxiety to secure so great 

 a prize, at once gives chase, and soon overtaking it, 

 bears it off to share the dainty morsel with its mate 

 and young. The Sparrow Hawk is capable of being 

 domesticated and rendered quite companionable. Au- 

 dubon gives the following description of a young bird 

 which he kept for some time : "I once found a young 

 male that had dropped from the nest before it was 

 able to fly. Its cries for food attracted my notice, 

 and I discovered it lying near a log. I took it home, 

 named it ' Nero,' and provided it with small birds, 

 at which it would scramble fiercely, although yet un- 

 able to tear their flesh, in which I assisted it. In a 

 few weeks it grew very beautiful, and became so vo- 

 racious, requiring a great number of birds daily, that 

 I turned it out to see how it would shift for itself. 

 This proved a gratification to both of us. It soon 

 hunted for grasshoppers and other insects, and on 

 returning from my walks, I now and then threw a 

 dead bird high in the air, which it never failed to 

 perceive from its stand, and toward which it launched 

 with such quickness as sometimes to catch it before 

 it fell to the ground. The little fellow attracted the 

 notice of his brothers, brought up hard by, who, ac- 

 companied by their parents, at first gave it chase, and 

 forced it to take refuge behind one of the window- 

 shutters, where it usually passed the night; but soon 

 became gentler toward it, as if forgiving its desertion. 



