"One species, L. excubitor, derives it trivial designation from the use made of it as a sentinel by falconers when catching wild Hawks. The mode employed is well described by Hoy , but it can only be briefly described here. The Hawk-catcher lies hidden in a hut, watching through a small hole the Butcher-bird which is tethered some yards off, and by its actions not only gives him notice of the approach of a Bird-of-Prey, but also indicates of what kind the stranger is. Thus the sentinel is but slightly troubled at a passing Kite, Eagle, or Buzzard; but beats itself on its perch with screams at the sight of a Harrier, while on the appearance of a Falcon or Sparrow-Hawk it drops with cries of distress into a retreat that has been been considerately prepared for it. On this the falconer, by pulling long strings, displays first one and then a second tethered Pigeon, and the instant the Hawk clutches this last, draws a bow-net over both, thus securing his prize."
React to this quote
More by Alfred Newton
See allResonant Thoughts
"Man does not seem able to “help” his selfishness; it seems to come from his animal nature. Through countless ages of evolution the organism has had to protect its own integrity; it had its own physioc…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Our lives are awkward and fragile and we have only one thing to keep us sane: pity, and the man without pit…"
— Edward Bond"he handsomest, the wittiest, the most brilliant and the most charming of poets. On the last occasion when I…"
— Theo Marzials"Charles Laughton is superbly vulgar in this whack at the backside of Victorianism. He makes a great vaudevi…"
— Pauline Kael"But that has nothing to do with ethnicity. Who's by the way Swedish and who's an immigrant?"
— Mona Sahlin"The East will be seen to rush to the West and the South to the North in confusion round and about the unive…"
— Leonardo da Vinci"Never confuse movement with action."
— Ernest Hemingway
