WITH BEAK AND CLAW 31 



cedar tree. Seeing the boy on the ground below, 

 he wheeled about the tree, uttering an alarm cry. 



There came a peevish call from the nest: 



*' Creech!" 



Some one else was hungry for breakfast. 



In obedience to the cry, the Fish-Hawk sailed 

 up and alighted on the nest. He stayed there but 

 a moment, then flew away again to the waters of 

 the lake. He had given his mate her morning 

 meal, now he was off to get his own. 



From where he watched, Shan could hear the 

 female Fish-Hawk tearing the prey. Unlike Gulls 

 and other fish-catching birds, who sometimes eat 

 their catch on the wing, first tossing it up in the 

 air and catching it adroitly head first so that the 

 sharp gills of the fish shall not stick in the bird's 

 throat, the Fish-Hawk eats his prey on a chosen 

 perch. There he holds the glittering morsel with 

 his talons and tears it to pieces with his sharp, 

 hooked, beak. 



The boy was sure, now, that the nest was oc- 

 cupied, equally sure that there were eggs in the 

 nest, for the hen-bird was sitting. Otherwise, as 

 Shan realized, she would have been out fishing 

 with her mate. 



Difficult or not, that tree had to be climbed! 



