THE SPARROW-HAWK. 
regularly for eight days, or until lie was himself secured; 
he must have dropped the food to them during the whole 
period, as he could not otherwise have fed them without being 
trapped or snared. 
“ I once kept one of these birds,” says the Eev. J. G. Wood, 
“ for the purpose of destroying the little birds ; but I very 
much regret to say that he was not of the least use, and, in 
fact, rather attracted than affrighted them. He was the most 
extraordinary coward, and the birds knew it well. In conse- 
quence, they used to assemble for the purpose of mobbing and 
persecuting my poor hawk; and, after chasing him up and 
down the gravel walk, among the cabbages, and into the wood- 
house, they used to leave him cowering among the beanstalks, 
and then adjourned to the currants and cherries for refresh- 
ment after their sport. 
“ There were two birds especially that excelled in persecu- 
tion, the wagtails and the tomtits ; the former out of the mere 
exuberance of their spirits, and the latter from interested 
motives. The wagtails would come over the wall with their 
peculiar jerking flight, settle on the ground in the very face of 
the hawk, wag their tails impudently, and then run at him 
open-mouthed. Whereupon the hawk would utter screams of 
fright, turn tail, and run away. But the tomtits were very 
wise birds, and had an eye to the main chance. As the hawk 
was afraid of little birds, and never seemed to catch any mice, 
it was evident that he must be fed, and he was accordingly 
favoured with a piece of raw meat every day. How, tomtits 
are quite carnivorous in their nature, and thought that the 
hawk had no more right than themselves to the meat. So 
they were accustomed to assemble about noon, and to wait 
until the hawk was fed; then, unless some one stood near 
while the bird was eating his dinner, down came the tomtits, 
and bullied him until he dropped the meat, with which they 
flew away, quarrelling among themselves as bitterly as they 
had harassed the hawk.” 
It would seem, however, that this apparent imbecility on 
the part of the hawk is often simply a bit of very clever 
manoeuvring to get a snap at one bird, — among a flock, of 
course he has a good chance of picking out a fat one. The 
before-mentioned authority says : — “ I was walking in a 
curious lane, that had been cut through a red- sandstone hill, 
so that the level of the fields was some fifteen feet or so above. 
The cattle were prevented from tumbling into the road by a 
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