36 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



Hawk did not actually attack, he slipped his knife 

 back into the sheath and set himself to the next 

 point of advance. 



Again the great bird swooped, but again the fear 

 of the unknown, the deep-rooted instinct by which 

 a wild animal or bird rarely strikes anything but 

 the food he eats, protected the boy. The Osprey 

 bore away to one side and circled high, rapidly 

 repeating the high complaining whistle which was 

 his alarm note, 



Shan was not far from the nest, now, but the 

 branches by which he was climbing were little 

 more than twigs. The short, twin needles of the 

 cedar need little wood to bear them. Each foot 

 of advance was perilous and there was the constant 

 menace of the bird overhead. Yet up the boy 

 went, gaining courage with every inch won. 



Here was the nest at last ! 



Yes, here was the nest. But how was he to get 

 into it? 



Like most of the ramshackle structures of the 

 Fish-Hawk, like the nest which the boy had tried 

 to pillage two years before, the great mass of 

 criss-crossed branches projected from the fork of 

 the tree in every direction. As Bull Adam had 

 said, at least a cartload of sticks had gone to the 



