200 
SHRIKES. 
The falconer has some quiet and sedentary em- 
ployment in hand, to occupy his time, which does 
not prevent his observing every motion of this his 
little watch-bird; and it is almost incredible at how 
great a distance he will perceive a Hawk in the air. 
If it comes near, he shows symptoms of alarm, — 
drawing in his feathers, and fixing his eyes in the 
same direction: on its approaching still nearer, he 
screams aloud; the Hawk being then, perhaps, not 
less than three or four hundred yards distant ; on its 
closer approach, he retreats under the turf, and 
quite conceals himself. It is then the falconer draws 
out the Pigeons where the nets are fixed, which, 
fluttering round, generally tempt the Hawk to make 
a stoop at one of them, which if he takes, he is 
inevitably insnared. While the Hawk is near, the 
Shrike continues in his hiding-place, hardly daring 
to show his head at the entrance of his retreat : 
should the Hawk be taken, or pass over without 
touching the Pigeons, he cautiously creeps out, yet 
almost afraid to trust himself on his hillock, looking 
on every side; and does not for some time recover 
from his alarm. There is one Hawk, the Goshawk, 
of which he is particularly afraid, screaming louder 
than ever, and making every attempt to escape, as 
if aware that this Hawk will even seize him in his 
hiding-place, should it catch sight of him, which the 
other hawks will not do. He, on the other hand, 
shows less alarm at the sight of the Kite or Buzzard, 
unless very near indeed ; so that, by the motion of 
the Butcher-bird, the falconer can tell, almost to a 
certainty, what species of Hawk is approaching, 
without running the risk of discovery, by looking 
