Pigeon Hawk 
catches 
anaBtevo ur s 
a Barn 
S Viral 1 ow 
There were also great numbers of Swallows and Swifts 
darting to and fro just above the tops of the trees. As 
I was idly watching them, a Pigeon Hawk suddenly appeared 
in their midst. Singling out a bird that was moving rather 
slowly the falcon overtook it in an instant and, rising 
slightly above it, dropped one foot and seized it without 
the slightest apparent effort. The affair was so unexpected 
and so quickly ended that my impressions of it are less vivid 
tod precise than could be wished. I doubt if more than two 
or three seconds elapsed between the moment when I first 
noticed the Hawk and that when it struck its prey. The latter 
appeared to be either taken by surprise or stupefied by fear, 
for it neither increased its pace nor resorted to that expedient 
which so often saves the snaller birds from the attacks of 
Hawks — viz. dodging. ' Having secured it, the Falcon made 
off very swiftly through the tree tops but presently circled 
back and alighted among the upper, leafless branches of a 
about ?, 
large chestnut which grew on the hillside above ana apart 
fifty yards from where I was standing. During this flight, 
the Hawk was closely pursued by a Barn Swallow who kept 
uttering the loud alarm note of its kind. This fact, together 
with the length and shape of one of the wings of the cap¬ 
tured bird which hung loosly down as the Hawk bore it off, 
led me to conclude that the poor victim was also a Barn 
Swallow although when the Hawk caught it I took it to be a 
Swift 
