1 88 BIRD WORLD. 



now bent over, holding the sparrow to the limb, and 

 tore the feathers out, plucking them as we pluck a 

 chicken. Then he took mouthfuls of the flesh with 

 his sharp, curved bill. 



An owl would have swallowed the sparrow, feath- 

 ers, bones, and all, and afterwards thrown out a ball 

 of feathers and bones. So that when you find the 

 feathers of a bird in the woods, you can lay the blame 

 on the Hawk, Cat, or Fox, but not on the Owl. 



To seize a bird which can also fly needs swiftness 

 and boldness ; so that the hawks which live on other 

 birds have long wings and a daring spirit. Some of 

 the fiercest are very small, while some of the large 

 hawks rarely catch birds, but live on caterpillars, 

 moths, frogs, and mice. 



When a farmer misses his chickens one after 

 another and, getting angry, finally takes down his 

 gun, he may shoot a friend instead of an enemy. 

 The bird shown in Fig. 44 and a cousin of his, called 

 the Sharp-shinned Hawk, are the real offenders ; and 

 the large hawk, called the Hen Hawk, is innocent. 



You know that when a man is tried in court for 

 some wrongdoing, we are careful to give him a 

 chance to defend himself, and we never call him 

 guilty till we have proof. The hawks cannot come 

 to us to defend themselves, so that we ought to be 

 very careful to get proof before we condemn them to 



