96 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



depredations against the " spare "-hawk. He 

 knows but little, however, of the laws which 

 govern the economy of nature ; and if he did, 

 or would, what are they compared to the head- 

 tax for those he can display on the vermin- 

 rails ? The freshly added Sparrow-hawk is by 

 no means the only one of its kind, for there 

 are four or five " blue-hawks." " Chicken- 

 hawk " is another of the Keeper's names for 

 the bird. Here is an anecdote of a female 

 Sparrow-hawk which was hanging in the 

 larder, and now nearly weathered out of exist- 

 ence. The bird was found held fast by both 

 feet in a trap in which was also a young rabbit. 

 Seeing that the trap would take less than a 

 second to spring, the question arises, How did 

 both the creatures manage to get into it ? The 

 Keeper's solution is that the rabbit was making 

 along an open " run ; " and the hawk, seeing 

 it, skimmed along close to the ground, and 

 clutched the rabbit just as it struck the trap. 



The Keeper's " red falcon " is the beautiful 

 Merlin, and of these there are a male and female 

 hanging in the larder. There is also the mottled 

 plumage of a Buzzard trapped during the snows 

 of winter; and by its side the silver-crested 



