TAMED HAWKS. 
143 
she avoided them altogether, and incessantly struggled round 
the enclosure in hopes of escaping. 
Another instance has been noticed near Lichfield. A 
female of the same species, domesticated 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 ; and no dog or 
cat could venture near without being stoutly assailed by the 
Buzzard. Its fury far surpassed that of a common Hen, as 
long as the chickens were young and helpless, but gradually 
slackened as they grew older ; the habits of affection, however, 
never entirely ceased, for the chickens, after they became full- 
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 have been received with hesitation, but when corrobo- 
rated by similar occurrences, on record in other places, its 
truth scarcely admits of a doubt. We have heard, indeed, a 
still more extraordinary circumstance, namely, that of an 
Eagle, at an inn at Uxbridge, which also hatched and brought 
up several broods of poultry. 
The attention of the Turks and Egyptians to certain Hawks, 
most probably arises from the respect paid to them in ancient 
times, when the Hawk was held sacred, and when even acci- 
dentally to kill one was punished by a heavy fine ; and de- 
signedly to deprive it of life was a capital offence, and the 
culprit suffered death. Yarious reasons are mentioned by old. 
writers for this veneration. Thus the Eagle was worshipped, 
as a royal bird, and the favourite of their god Jupiter. The 
Hawks were worshipped for different reasons ; some because 
they were supposed to destroy scorpions, serpents, and divers 
dangerous reptiles. Others again were deified, or held sacred, 
because the priests, or augurs as they were called, made use 
of their swift flight in their divinations, or pretended fore- 
