260 
THE WINDHOVER HAWK. 
owls by night, to thin the swarms of mice which 
over-run the land. 
As the windhovers make no nest, they are reduced 
to the necessity of occupying, at second hand, that 
of another bird. I once made the experiment to 
try if a windhover would take possession of a nest 
newly built ; and^ in order to prepare the way, I 
singled out the nest of a carrion crow. As soon as 
the crow had laid her third egg, I ascended the 
tree, and robbed the nest. In less than a week 
after this, a pair of windhovers took to it; and they 
reared a brood of young in its soft and woolly 
hollow. 
The windhover is a social bird, and, unlike most 
other hawks, it seems fond of taking up its abode 
near the haunts of men. What heartfelt pleasure I 
often experience in watching the evolutions of this 
handsome little falcon ! and with what content I see 
the crow and the magpie forming their own nests, as 
I know that, on the return of another spring, these 
very nests will afford shelter to the windhover. 
Were I to allow the crow and the magpie to be per- 
secuted, there would be no chance for the windhover 
to rear its progeny here ; for Nature has not taught 
this bird the art of making its nest in a tree. How 
astonishing, and how diversified, are the habits of 
birds ! The windhover is never known to make use 
of a nest until it has been abandoned for good and 
all by the rightful owner ; whilst, on the contrary, 
the cuckoo lays her egg in one of which the original 
framer still retains possession. 
The windhover usually lays five eggs, and one of 
