Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/620

604 The next season I took a female sparrow hawk from the nest, when nearly grown, but she was never quite as familiar as Sweepstakes, and in a few days ran or rather flew away. If she had gone north toward the meadows, she would probably have found her parents, at that time engaged in teaching her brothers and sisters the rudiments of hunting, and would probably never have returned. Instead of this she took the opposite direction, and in a few days came back with a tremendous appetite, hungrily eating everything that was given her. When haying time came on she would follow about the field, lighting on rake handles or shoulders, or even the cart, when she was not feeding on grasshoppers till she could hardly fly. Toward the end of summer she would be gone for days on hunting excursions, her ability in this direction having increased, but on her return would be as familiar as ever.

One day, however, she appeared nervous and frightened, and on taking her in my hand I noticed that shot had cut through her wing feathers, and those on her breast were rumpled and bloody. Suddenly she caught sight of some one in the road more than a hundred yards away, and was instantly in the air, soaring out over the fields and up toward the clouds until almost out of sight. She seldom came about the house after that, and though when I saw her in the meadows was apparently not afraid, she yet refused to come at my call. Early the next spring a female sparrow hawk lighted on the roof of the barn, and at one time seemed to show signs of coming down to me, but evidently thought better of it, and flew off toward the north. Perhaps it was only a wild hawk; still, I prefer to think that she is still alive, and has escaped those who shoot hawks only to obtain the bounty offered for their scalps by the State.

traveling in the Balearic Islands. M. Gaston Vuiller, passing through a gorge in Minorca, found the road barred by extemporized stone walls, tree trunks, and all sorts of loose obstacles, while the foliage above was hung "with colored ribbons and garlands of flowers and fruit, like the route of a triumphal procession." This was in preparation for a wedding festival, and in obedience to a custom of placing every possible obstacle in the way of brides and bridegrooms in order to remind them how difficult is the path to happiness, while the festoons above express the good wishes of the people. The proper attention for a lover on this island to pay his sweetheart is "to steal silently upon her from behind and suddenly to discharge his musket into the ground at her feet, and a well-brought-up girl never winces under the trial." Suitors announce their good feeling for the family by discharging a musket in the sitting room after spending the evening with them, but before saying "good night." If the "good night" has been said, the firing is held to signify a challenge to a rival.