. Animal life in field and garden . yellow, and are long andslender. The sparrow-hawk is a hunter of pigeons, whichit tries to catch off guard by flying around thepigeon-cote and by watching from the concealment of some tree-top. Thelark, the thrush, and thequail often fall into itsclutches. Its flight is lowand oblique like the gos-hawks, the wings of bothbeing too short and toorounded at the tip topermit of lofty flight orsudden charges. Theyoung, just out of thenest and as yet inexpe-coopers Hawk rieuced iu the cunning of the chase, are for a while trained by the parent birdsfor the career
. Animal life in field and garden . yellow, and are long andslender. The sparrow-hawk is a hunter of pigeons, whichit tries to catch off guard by flying around thepigeon-cote and by watching from the concealment of some tree-top. Thelark, the thrush, and thequail often fall into itsclutches. Its flight is lowand oblique like the gos-hawks, the wings of bothbeing too short and toorounded at the tip topermit of lofty flight orsudden charges. Theyoung, just out of thenest and as yet inexpe-coopers Hawk rieuced iu the cunning of the chase, are for a while trained by the parent birdsfor the career they are to follow; and indeedit is no rare occurrence to see the whole family hunt-ing in company. The sparrow-hawk nests in talltrees and lays four or five white eggs ornamentedwith brown spots, which are larger and more numer-ous toward the big end of the egg. Both the goshawkand the sparrow-hawk, when they are attacked byan enemy stronger than themselves, do as the homedowl does: they lie on their backs and brandish HAWKS AND FALCONS 141 *0f all our diurnal birds of prey, falcons are themost courageous and the best equipped for a distinctive characteristic they have a sharptooth on each side of the tip of the beak, which itselfis very powerful and curves downward in a notablemanner from the very outset. Their wings arepointed at the tip and when folded they extendbe-yond or at least as far as the end of the tail. Allfalcons soar in their flightwhen hunting. To thisclass belong the commonfalcon, the hobby, and themerlin. The common falcon,which is as large as a hen,can be recognized by asort of mustache or blackspot it has on each back is of a dark ashenhue crossed by narrow stripes of a still deepershade; the throat and breast are pure white, withblack markings running lengthwise; the stomach andthighs are light gray tinged with blue and stripedwith black; and the tail shows alternate stripes ofdingy white and of black. The beak is blue with
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
