52 The Haw ley e O. and 0. 



Joe's greatest accomplishment was catching rats. We used to 

 catch the rats in a box trap and then take them out on the com- 

 mon and let the hawk catch them. Joe always seemed to know 

 what was expected of him when he saw the trap. He would hop 

 round and round it, all the while uttering piercing screams. As 

 soon as the rat was loosened from the trap and tried to escape, he 

 would pursue it, not on the wing, hut taking great leaps by aid 

 of his wings. He always seized his prey by striking the talon of 

 his great toe into the neck of the rat, and by this means held it 

 securely and prevented it from injuring him. When he 'had 

 seized his prey, he drew his wing around in front of him, conceal 

 ino- it from view and then make a meal of it. 



Joe was very fond of frogs. It was a funny thing to see him 

 try to catch five or six at once. He would get one with each 

 foot, and the others would escape. 



My friend often let Joe loose to fly around for exercise, but he 

 always gave him this liberty just before feeding him. He woidd 

 sail around high in the air, but wou'd always come down like an 

 arrow when called, for he knew food awaited him. 



One day my friend went on a visit and forgot to feed him. Joe 

 escaped from his coop and went on a foraging. expedition and 

 made great havoc among the chickens. When my friend returned 

 he discovered Joe making a meal from one of his favorite hens. 



This angered him so that he disposed of him to a German boy 

 who lived in the upper end of the town. He soon tired of his 

 pet and neglected to feed him. In the next yard was a pen in 

 .which there were some pigs about a week old. Joe, on one of- 

 his expeditions for food discovered them and carried one off. He 

 repeated the visit two or three times. One day the owner of the 

 pigs saw Joe on the roof of the neighboring shop making a meal 

 off one of his young porkers. He at once sent for a policeman, 

 and Joe came to an untimely end hj means of a bullet from the 

 officer's revolver. 



