Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1908-06-18
A Hawk and a hog.

had some Tamworth blood also. Any.
way, she was tall and slim, with the
longest nose I ever saw on a hog.
She was no beauty, either, but she had
action. She dearly loved chicken, es-
pecially the incest young ROSTERS.
She could catch and eat more chickens
than one would think she had capac-
ity to hold. She had the run Of our
creek bottom pasture and, when she
was not catching chickens she was in
the shallow places in the creek rolling
over stones and catching craw6sh.
With that long snout she could roll
over stone so large that you would
be surprised at her power.
This SOW had administered to her a
remedy that completely cured her of
chicken catching. This came by ac-
cident. We had in Miami county,
Ohio, at that time plenty of squirrels.
l often took down from its hooks the
long-barreled muzzle.loading rife and
had a pleasant little hunt for squir.
rels. On one of these trips I got a
shot at a very large hawk and brought
him down. On going to him found
he was very much alive. The ball
had only broken the end of one wing
so that he could not fly. He showed
fight as soon as came near. 1t did
not take me long to see that he was a
large fellow and as fine a specimen of
the hawk family as one would wish
to see. I wanted to bring him home
to show the family. 1t was quite
task to get him by the tip of that good
wing. He would get on his back and
when l would make move to catch
him be would shoot out those great
claws at me. Finally, by the aid of
a stick, l succeeded in getting hold
of the end of the wing. l held him
out at arms length SO he could not
grab my legs with his claws and got
him home all right. In the yard l
let him down and he walked of to.
ward the fence.
Then 1 saw the old spotted SOW on
the other side of the fence. She was
coming towards the hawk with her
chops working, her long tail twisting,
and it seemed that l could see her
smile. Then the idea came to me
that this hawk would put up good
fight with the old SOW, and l deter
mined to put him over the fence. Ac'
cordingly l drove the old SOW about
thirty feet away and dropped the
hawk over.
Well, if there ever was an interest
ing time it was then. The SOW had
been catching chickens so long with
out any resistance that she pitched
right in. When she started for that
hawk he just turned on his back and
when that long snout came in reach he
grabbed it with both claws, right on
the end, and put them in good and
deep. The old lady stopped short,
taken by surprise, then she gave very
loud "boo." She tried to shake him
off, but those claws were in deep and
tight. The hawk then commenced to
beat her on the side OF the head with
his good wing. This was too much for
the SOW. She had caught chickens
good part of her lite and never had
this happen before. She began to
squeal very loud she was whipped
and my respect for that hawk began to
rise. Likewise / began to smile.
Always before this when che caught
a chicken she would run down the
lane to the creek bottom. suspect
she got into this habit by having so
many brooms, rolling pins and sticks
thrown at her by the women folks.
She now thought, I suppose, that it
was about time to make the run down
the lawn before she received a shower
of kitchen furniture. She started with
the hawk holding on to the long snout
and tapping her on the side Of the
head with that good wing. / said
that this old SOW had action, but l
never saw her develop it so much az
she did about that time. To see the
outfit go down the lane and up the
creek was enough TO make any one
roar right out.
followed them, and about one hun
dred yards up the creek, at the edge Of
a pswpaw patch. was my hawk but no
SOW. would have pstted that hawk
on the head and stroked his back, bat
he would allow no such familiarity
Just then, as be was mad clear through.
l thought the best thing to do was 10
leave him alone. ! would not have
harmed his hawkship for any money.
l did not look for the old SOW.
/ thought perhaps she was back in
the woods in some quiet place, think