The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-05-07
HATCHED OUT HAWKS EGGS.
A Citizen, Country Born, Recalls a.
Experiment of His Youth.

dHu W see uON SuS "Ou4u oCe, 90SA"
a citizen up State born, II being
then way back urehin Of inquirlng
mind, set pet bantam duck Of mine
to matching out a couple Of hawk
eggs. Whether the experiment was
a success in its results depends some
what on the way you look at it.
''I purloined the eggs from the
hawks nest in an old dead tree back
in the Bald Hill woods when the old
hawks we're off their job temporari-
ly; but I was intercepted by them
before I got down out Of the tree.
They clawed and clutched at me the
fercest kind, but I got away with the
eggs.
II lost a yellow corduroy cap l
was wearing at the time, though, for
it was knocked off my head or was
snatched off by one of the hawks-l
don't know which-and the old birds
were making it so warm for me that
I didn't dare stop long enough to re-
cover the cap, but journeyed out OF
those woods and home with the eggs
\ as fast as my legs would let me.
d .'I hadn't thought Of setting the
eggs under the duck, but she was
@ making a great fuss to set on some
gthing or other and so I let her ease
a Fher longing with bbe stolen hawk
1 eggs. She went right at the JOB, and
sI got the old gun and went back to
hescue my yellow corduroy cap, which
was very fono of. The hawks we're
nowhere to be seen when [ got to the
Bpot neither was the cap. l supposed
the hawks, having no other way to re-
y venge themselves, had carried the
cap away with them. I came home
feeling sore. .,
.EThe duck hatched eggs out all
right. but the sight Of the big-headed,
big-eved, big hook-billed, fierce look
ing pair of cutters she had brought
into the world gave her such scare
that she waddled away as fast as
her short legs would carry her, NUT
tering all sorts of agitated duck talk.
Onlv once did she come back for
look at that queer result of her lneu-
baton.
"She approached the nest slowly
and cantionslv. At the sign Of her
coming both hawGngs-there we're
only two-threw their big beaks op-.
On. They were expecting something
10 eat.
"The duck turned and flad. She
never stopped until she sot to the
Gus ,crl c!e: across the road.
She plunged into the pond, swan
few strokes and dived out of sight.
7 don't know whether she thought
those bristling critters we're hard on
her trail or not, but she didn t come
TO the surface until she was hall
wav across the pond. There she rest
ed and locked back. Although sne
saw she was safe she never ventured
closer to those hawkings again than
the edge of the pond.
s'The experiment was howl1ng
success so far as the fun of it was
concerned anyhow, but I had the
hawks on my hands. [ could nave
killed 'em of course, and that's what
7 would have done, but I thought
maybe it would be nice to have eou-
ple Of live hawks in captivity and
concluded T would raise them.
"One of them died very young.
The other one thrived and grew to
be a fine specimen of hen hawk un-
der nv care, and I used to 60 out and
look at him in the big cage l kept
him in, fastened to a post IN the oaoS
ward. and feel proud.
Zone day along in July there came
I'D a. gale that tore the hawk cage
from it's fastenings on the post and
nv hawk escaped. He flew to the
dead limb Of a tall tree down back
of the barn.
"He sat there looking so lonesome
and sorry that I seorned sugges~
ton my folks made about taking the
gun and making a sure enough good
hawk of him by killing him and went
and rugged his cage up again and put
some nice chopped beef in it, bellev-
;no THAI he would return to his old
home. I didn't know hawks.
"He sat there so long and quiet
that I was on the point Of going out
and climbing the tree and helping
him back home when out OF the pond
waddled my pet bantam duck. She
sauntered toward the barnyard.
lLr ,r- WY ],o VI ctra1 Ohtpn I'D.