THE WINDHOVER HAWK. 261 
them sometimes proves addle. This bird is seen 
to the greatest advantage during the time that it 
is occupied in rearing its young : at that period, 
nothing throughout the whole range of ornitholo- 
gical economy can surpass the elegance of its aerial 
evolutions. 
Perhaps it is not generally known, that the wind- 
hover is a migratory bird ; but whether the greater 
part of these hawks leave England in the autumn, 
or merely retire from their breeding-place to some 
other part of our country, more congenial to their 
habits, is a problem which remains yet to be solved. 
For my own part I am of opinion, that a very large 
proportion of those which are bred in England leave 
it in the autumn, to join the vast flights of hawks 
which are seen to pass periodically over the Medi- 
terranean Sea, on their way to Africa. 
Last summer I visited twenty- four nests in my 
park, all with the windhover's eggs in them. The 
old birds and their young tarried here till the de- 
parture of the swallow, and then they disappeared. 
During the winter, there is scarcely a windhover to 
be found. Sometimes a pair or so makes its appear- 
ance, but does not remain long. When February- 
has set in, more of the windhovers are seen ; and 
about the middle of the month their numbers have 
much increased. They may be then heard at all 
hours of the day ; and he who loves to study nature 
in the fields may observe them, now on soaring 
wing, high above in the blue expanse of heaven ; 
now hovering near the earth, ready to pounce upon 
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