. The birds about us . re small birds in are very fatal to the flocks of horned larks,chase flocks of blackbirds until they scatter them,and have been known to enter dove-cots and destroythe pigeons. Wilson supposes that they do not winterin the Middle States, but this is an error. The Sparrow-hawk is everywhere, and equallyhappy whether the thermometer registers zero or100° in the shade. Give it a chance to go mousingand it asks nothing, except per-haps an opportunity to vary itsdiet with a sparrow. I do not know that these beau-tiful birds care much for denseforests, and I sel
. The birds about us . re small birds in are very fatal to the flocks of horned larks,chase flocks of blackbirds until they scatter them,and have been known to enter dove-cots and destroythe pigeons. Wilson supposes that they do not winterin the Middle States, but this is an error. The Sparrow-hawk is everywhere, and equallyhappy whether the thermometer registers zero or100° in the shade. Give it a chance to go mousingand it asks nothing, except per-haps an opportunity to vary itsdiet with a sparrow. I do not know that these beau-tiful birds care much for denseforests, and I seldom have seenthem in our great tide-watermarshes; but is there a field inthe whole land over which, atsome time, they have not hov-ered? Their flight is not ma-jestic like the eagles, nor as er-ratic as the swallows, but thereis a grace in their movements, ageneral at-homeness, if I maycoin the word, in the air that isdelightful to witness. Darting with apparent reck-lessness across the field, suddenly the bird stops,. Sparrow-hawk. 176 The Birds About Us. pauses motionless in mid-air, and then with a quickvibrating of the wings remains in the one positionuntil satisfied. No! it was not a mouse that time,and on lie goes. At short intervals this poisingabove the ground is followed by a sudden earthwardswoop, but the bird comes up again with emptytalons. Again and again this happens, and mousethe first is well digested before mouse the second iscaptured. The unerring aim is all moonshine, butthere are plenty of lucky swoops, and never a spar-row-hawk went hungry for long. These little falcons build in trees, using some com-modious hollow that perhaps an owl has occupiedbefore them, and here they lay pretty eggs and raisean interesting brood. When nearly ready to fly may be tamed thoroughly, and make veryamusing but somewhat troublesome pets. One that Ihad was allowed to alight upon the top of my head,and, bending over, make believe to kiss me. Thishabit led to perching
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1895
