HAWKING-BIRDS. 
them. At first the pigeons were rather shy of meeting tbeir 
natural enemy on such an occasion, hut they soon became 
familiarized, and approached without fear. It was curious 
to observe the playfulness of the hawk, and his perfect good 
humour during feeding-time ; for he received his portion 
without any of that ferocity with which birds of prey usually 
take their food, and merely uttered a cry of lamentation when 
•disappointed of his morsel. When the feast was over, he would 
attend the pigeons in their flight round and round the house 
and gardens, and perch with them on the chimney -top or roof 
of the house, and this voyage he never failed to take early 
every morning, when the pigeons took their exercise. At night 
he retired and roosted with them in the dovecot ; and though 
for some days after his first appearance he had it all to him- 
self, the pigeons not liking such an intruder, they shortly 
became good friends, and he was never known even to touch a 
young one, — unfledged, helpless, and tempting as they must 
have been. He seems quite unhappy at any separation from 
them, and when purposely confined in another abode, he con- 
stantly uttered most melancholy cries, which were changed to 
tones of joy and satisfaction on the appearance of any person 
with whom he was familiar. * * He was as playful as a 
kitten and as loving as a dove.” Being quite able to vouch 
for the respectability of the “ witness,” I shall take the liberty 
of extracting another anecdote of a buzzard, from the same 
valuable source. “ A female of this species,” says he, “ domes- 
ticated and kept in a garden, was set with some eggs of the 
common poultry, which she hatched at the usual time. When 
the chickens were freed from the shell, this strange stepmother 
defended them in the most furious manner, scarcely allowing 
any person to approach the wooden box in which they were 
hatched and kept, and to which they retired whenever they 
chose. Its fury far surpassed that of a common hen, as long 
as the chickens were young and helpless, but gradually slack- 
ened as they grew older; the habits of affection, however, 
never entirely ceased, for the chickens, after they became foil- 
grown fowls, remained with it, and all lived together in the 
same garden in perfect harmony. A single instance of so 
extraordinary a deviation from the general habits of birds 
might be received with hesitation, but when corroborated 
by similar occurrences on record in other places, its truth 
scarcely admits of a doubt.” 
Mr. Anderton, the American ornithologist, gives an account 
250 
