Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/215
wore a coat of black or buried silver thimbles in a flower bed. Although his pranks were often very annoying, they were always amusing, and no one ever thought the less of the bird for stealing all the fish from the miniature pond, nor did his master's anger, though great, cause him to administer severe punishment to the black culprit when he discovered the fish all neatly stowed away under the shingles of the rabbit house. When the young rabbits were discovered nicely pressed between the leaves of some books of travel just purchased, the gentleman to whom the books belonged declared war. He went to the lawn to search for Billy, and the bird flew to him, and, alighting upon his shoulder in the most fearless and confident manner, commenced a long explanation of his misdeeds in the crow language. What he said was unintelligible; but the gentleman's anger was not only mollified but changed to mirth, for he came back to the house laughing heartily. Billy, still perching upon his shoulders, seemingly enjoyed the situation.
Since the writer's first experiment he has brought up several other crows successfully upon a diet of fresh meat, bread and milk, and boiled potatoes mixed with eggs.
Naturally possessed of a wild, fierce nature, loving the open air and the wide, blue sky, the hawk is a born freebooter; but wild and fierce as he is, he may nevertheless be perfectly tamed if taken from the nest when quite young.
After you have obtained a young hawk, make it a rule to always feed it yourself and never allow any one else to do so. Give a peculiar whistle (in the same manner) each time you feed it, and the bird will learn to know the signal and come