208 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



bird is discovered at a feast particularly to its 

 liking. Birds prove that they are greedy by risk- 

 ing their lives to remain with food they are eating, 

 by almost choking themselves and at times their 

 young by trying to force down bites too large for 

 their throats. Sometimes they raise the head high, 

 twist, stretch, and turn the neck to force down an 

 especially large fragment. 



Action, voice, and expression combine when 

 birds are angry. Usually the plumage is raised 

 in the scream of anger, and then more swiftly 

 contracts with action, as they make the plunge 

 which carries them to their foe. 



Some of the larger birds, the eagle, hawk, and 

 vulture, speak a plain language of defiance. With 

 sleek feathers and flashing eyes, they part their 

 beaks and utter a hiss which means: "I will fight 

 before you shall touch my young." 



Last of all, and hardest to learn, and with no 

 way of understanding just how or why it happens, 

 you can study the language of intuition among the 

 birds. You can see that in some way you can not 

 fathom, a whole flock, perching on a tree, feeding 

 on the ground, or drinking at the river, can become 

 alarmed as one bird, rise with one accord, and fly 

 for their lives. Sometimes, by careful watching, 

 you can see a man coming with a gun, a snake 

 crossing the river, or a weasel slipping under a 

 log; and sometimes, try as you may, you can in no 

 way discover the cause of alarm. It is the same 



