TAMED HAWKS. 
141 
from their stings. There can he no longer any doubt as to 
the truth, one having been lately shot in the parish of Stoke 
Nay land, in Suffolk, by a person who saw it first on the 
ground near several wasps’ nests, and who, on dissecting it, 
found both in its craw and stomach a quantity of wasps and 
their grubs, with a few small beetles. As nobody has had 
the good fortune to see one of these birds in the act of feed- 
ing, it is impossible to ascertain how it makes its way without 
being injured into the interior of the wasps’ nest, which it 
must do in order to get at the grubs, which are concealed in 
the very middle of the combs. The head and throat are sur- 
rounded with a clothing of remarkably thick, and rather stiff 
feathers, which may probably be intended as a protection. 
From the date named, October 12, when this bird was shot, 
it might be imagined that it attacked those nests only which 
had been partly destroyed, or deserted by the wasps, which so 
late in the season were beginning to get feeble ; but this is 
not correct, as they have been seen just as busy about hives 
and wasps’ nests in the breeding season, when these insects 
are in full strength and vigour. How the Hawk contrives to 
make his way into the comb is also difficult to understand, 
though as the legs and claws of this bird were very dirty even 
to the knee, he most probably uses them as fowls do in dung- 
hills, to scratch away the soil. 
Bold, and apparently savage and cruel as is the disposition 
of the Hawk tribe, occasional instances are to be found of 
their manifesting something like kindness and good-will 
towards birds, where such a disposition might be little ex- 
pected. Even the Sparrow-hawk, which by some has been 
considered of so savage and wild a nature, as to render all 
means for taming it hopeless, has, nevertheless, in the hands 
of more able or patient guardians, proved not only docile, but 
amiable in its disposition. About four years ago, a young 
Sparrow-hawk was procured and brought up by a person who 
was fond of rearing a particular breed of Pigeons, which he 
greatly prized on account of their rarity. By good manage- 
ment and kindness, he so far overcame the natural disposition 
of this Hawk, that in time it formed a friendship with the 
