The Killers The Tale of a Fighting Cock and a Wild Hawk

A showdown ensues between a bird of prey and a barnyard rooster in this masterpiece of nature fiction from the author of The Fox and the Hound.

Whitehackle comes from a long line of fighting cocks, but exceeds expectations as he rises to the top of the pecking order. His reputation grows when he chases off a fox and attacks a hawk in gallant defense of one his hens. The arrogant rooster is now king of the barnyard, but the hawk still circles above . . .

A female Cooper’s hawk, Ishmael, has few natural enemies. Life itself is her greatest foe—and survive she must, to mate and nest and raise her young. Even a gunshot can’t stop this courageous bird—yet she may have met her match in Whitehackle . . .

The day-to-day life of hawk and rooster collide in a fragile environment encroached upon by modern forces in a story of predation—both animal and human.

“A very compelling tale. . . . Mannix, who has spent most of his life near and with animals, treads it with a sure foot and a clear-eyed unsentimental approach. Like the nature he writes about, he makes no apologies and asks no special indulgence—and he writes a very readable book.” —Sports Illustrated

“Mannix shifts back and forth between natural enemies, dramatizing but not fictionalizing their life experiences in thoroughly entertaining information writing. . . . He’s combined a mass of wild bird lore with a coopful of material on the complex social structure and behavior patterns of domestic poultry. Bet your nestegg on it.” —Kirkus Reviews

Daniel P. Mannix was an award-winning American author and journalist, as well as a magician and filmmaker. Mannix’s magazine articles about his experiences in the carnival, where he performed under the stage name “The Great Zadma,” became popular in the mid-1940s and were compiled with the assistance of his wife in the book Step Right Up! His dozens of books and extensive essays range in subject from children’s animal stories, environmental issues, and hunting accounts to historical examinations of the Hellfire Club, the Atlantic slave trade, and the Roman gladiatorial games. Mannix was particularly interested in the Wizard of Oz canon and composed a biography of L. Frank Baum for American Heritage magazine in the 1960s.