sneaking from orchard to orchard, and you have to guess at their whereabouts from the cries of the small birds that have nests in the neighborhood. A colony of swallows, however, makes an excellent pack of sky hounds to hunt them with, as they keep directly over the hawk, and by watching their movements you may judge what direction to take in order to head him off. Even if you get a good shot at him you may call yourself lucky if you succeed in bringing him down, for he is harder to hit than snipe or woodcock, and is rarely captured until fairly riddled with shot.
Merlins are solid, muscular, beautiful little birds, with close-fitting, dark-colored plumage. They are never very numerous, except in the fall, when they come in flights, and are most abundant near the seacoast and salt marshes. They fly swiftly and steadily, seldom changing their course, and as sure as one of them starts in pursuit of a bird that bird is doomed, for the merlin seldom gives up the chase.
He is not a difficult bird to shoot, for, though tenacious of life, his flight is steady, and, as a general thing, on being hit by a shot, he turns and flies back in the direction whence he came, giving the sportsman a second chance.
In my opinion, the sparrow hawk is the handsomest of his race; his back is bright, golden cinnamon, his wings steely blue and jet black, and his tail chestnut, with a broad black band; his breast is beautifully marked with chainlike patterns of black spots. His mate is chestnut above, banded with black. Unlike other hawks, the plumage of these birds does not vary with age. They usually make their appearance in some still, cloudy day, about the last of March, and take up their position in the meadows; from then until September they are always to be seen either perched on the topmost twig of some tall elm or hovering in the air on the lookout for prey. Their nest is in some hollow tree or deserted woodpecker's hole, or even a last year's crow's nest. I have often tried to account for the seemingly friendly relations existing between the sparrow hawks and golden-winged wood-pecker; both frequently occupy holes in the same branch, and sit side by side on top of some tall stub without the least sign of disagreement, although, unless I am very much mistaken, the sparrow hawk often attacks larger birds, and might easily carry off the young ones when the old birds were absent.
About the last of June the young hawks are ready to fly, and at once betake themselves to the nearest thick treetop, preferring an evergreen if possible. They appear to enjoy the change from their former stuffy apartments immensely, and preen their feathers in the bright sunlight, each waiting patiently its turn to be fed by the parents, who are chasing the half-fledged blackbirds and sparrows about the meadows, or darting after grasshoppers
