. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. 114 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. LASHING THE AIR WITH POWERFUL WINGS, ULYSSES TAKES OFF ON A HUNT Dangling from his legs are the jesses, six-inch leather straps, which have just been disengaged from the leash in Frank Craighead's hand. Though free to fly where he pleases, the trained duck hawk always returns to his master. Ulysses has been a favorite of the authors for nearly four years (pages 116 and 117). Usually they let their hawks return to the wild after one season of hunting. Others; they are just born faster, or el
. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. 114 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. LASHING THE AIR WITH POWERFUL WINGS, ULYSSES TAKES OFF ON A HUNT Dangling from his legs are the jesses, six-inch leather straps, which have just been disengaged from the leash in Frank Craighead's hand. Though free to fly where he pleases, the trained duck hawk always returns to his master. Ulysses has been a favorite of the authors for nearly four years (pages 116 and 117). Usually they let their hawks return to the wild after one season of hunting. Others; they are just born faster, or else they try harder. Such an exceptionally able hawk was Comet. Rabbit hunting was her favorite sport. Often, as we tramped along through the brush with Comet on our glove, her re- markable eyes spot a rabbit wholly invisible to us and she would be off. At first, in her eagerness to make a kill, she wotild swoop at her prey even in thick undergrowth, hitting the bushes a terrific blow and damaging her feathers. Later she learned the trick of following her quarry until it reached a clearing. Flying from tree to tree, Comet followed one rabbit in this way for more than half a mile and at last struck it in a small, open space. But Mr. Cottontail was wise and quick. He dived through a narrow crotch in a small locust tree, leaving his attacker tightly wedged there. Sometimes, when shaken off, the hawk would catch up to a rabbit on foot, her long, powerful legs enabling her to make surprising speed. Once the rabbit ducked under a wire fence. The hawk, hotly pur- suing, hit the wire and all but knocked herself out. Another time she chased a rabbit halfway down a groundhog burrow. Since a full-grown rabbit weighs three times as much as a Cooper's hawk and can kick out vigorously with all fours or plunge into a brier patch, Comet took plenty of punishment even when she made a direct hit. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digit
Size: 1608px × 1553px
Photo credit: © Central Historic Books / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookpublisherwashingtondcnationalgeographicso, booksubjectbirds
