460 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Compare, now, the two instances, observed by me, of a Hawk 

 first flying with Great Plovers, then with Peewits. The Hawk 

 being a bird of prey, an evil intention is, of course, the first and 

 most natural hypothesis. He is a " suspect," and must take the 

 consequences (which, here, will not be very serious for him). Yet 

 I recall that, even with the Plovers, where this theory seemed 

 most tenable, it did not impress me in that way at the time, 

 though, on reflection, it seemed more and more likely. There 

 (I believe) it was a Sparrow-Hawk, but in the other instance it 

 was a Kestrel — and who can credit a Kestrel with having any 

 serious designs upon Peewits ? Afterwards, when it was on the 

 ground, tearing prey, the Peewits all round and about did not 

 betray the smallest apprehension. In the case of the Sparrow- 

 Hawk with the Plovers, it may have been different; but with 

 regard to their actions afterwards, these may have been due to 

 myself, for though I lay as flat as I could, yet I was no doubt 

 visible, the bank at that part not being clothed with bracken. 

 Also, an incident, which I did not trouble to record, had just 

 before occurred — viz, that some men with carts on the road, 

 seeing me crawling flat in the heather, had thought I had 

 broken a leg or otherwise hurt myself, and one of them (a 

 delicious rustic) had walked up to me to make sure. This had 

 put the birds up. The Hawk incident occurred later, after they 

 had gone down again, with a small band of birds that had flown 

 up to join them. But being put up once, and seeing me on the 

 bank all the time, assuming that they did, may have caused the 

 general disquietude I noted, and the Hawk may not have pro- 

 duced it. At any rate, here is one instance, as it appears to me, 

 of a Hawk flying with a flock of birds for pleasure merely, and 

 without a serious design upon them. 



About 7.30 or 8 a small group of the Plovers rose from one 

 part of the amphitheatre, and flew to another. In a few minutes 

 they again rose, and, after circling about a little, flew away 

 towards the heather, going straight towards the accustomed 

 place. They numbered twenty-six, for, as they stretched out 

 into a long irregular line, I was able to count them. They were 

 followed shortly by another flight of thirty-three. But it soon 

 appeared that they had not left the one gathering-ground to go 

 to the other spontaneously (as I thought had been the case), but 



