THE KESTREL, OR, WIND-MOVER. 
as easily as the smallest sparrow-hawks can be caught in the 
same trap. 
A kestrel, whose weight does not exceed six ounces, has 
l been known to attack a weasel, and carry it up some height 
| into the air, but being too much for it, both fell together to the 
ground, the weasel escaping unhurt ; but its assailant was 
killed from a bite in the throat by its vindictive captive. A 
similar instance of the hawk’s courage is recorded by Stanley : 
— “ In the spring, a gentleman walking in the fields saw a 
small hawk attempting to fly off with some prey it had just 
pounced upon, but evidently prevented, by the weight of its- 
I capture, from rising to any height above the ground. It was 
pursued by a hare, which, whenever it came within her reach, 
attacked it with her paws, and at last succeeded in knocking it 
down, when it dropped its prey. At this moment the gentle- 
man ran forward, and the hawk and its pursuer both made 
their retreat. Upon his reaching the spot where the prey had 
been dropped, he found it to be a fine leveret, which at once 
; explained the cause of the parent hare’s gallant attack on the 
hawk. It was wounded on the side of the head and was bleed- 
ing, but the gentleman left it in a furrow, hoping that the 
' wound might not prove fatal, and that the mother rriight find 
it, and reap the reward of her maternal attachment.” 
In common justice to the hawk family, however, it should 
be stated that instances are not wanting wherein this savage 
bird of prey has exhibited wonderful tenderness and solicitude, 
and this to creatures of a species it is its nature to abhor. 
Even the savage buzzard can be not only docile, but amiable 
in its disposition. 
Mr. Yarrell says : “ The extreme partiality of the common 
buzzard to the seasonable task of incubation and rearing young 
| birds, has been exemplified in various instances. A few years 
i back, a female buzzard, kept in the garden of the Chequers 
Inn at Uxbridge, showed an inclination to sit, by collecting 
j and bending all the loose sticks she could obtain possession of. 
Her owner, noticing her actions, supplied her with materials ; 
I she completed her nest, and sat on two hen’s eggs, which she 
hatched and afterwards reared the young. Since then she has 
hatched and brought up a brood of chickens every year. She 
indicates her desire to sit by scratching holes in the ground, 
and breaking and tearing everything within her reach. One 
summer, in order to save her the fatigue of sitting, some young 
chickens just hatched were put down to her ; but she destroyed 
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