A LIFE OF FEAR 143 



could out-tack him easily. One more leap and 

 the squirrel was up a tree, and the dog was over- 

 whelmed with confusion and disgust. He could 

 not believe his senses. " Not catch a squirrel in 

 such a field as that? Go to, I will have him 

 yet ! " and he bounded up the tree as high as 

 one's head, and then bit the bark of it in his 

 anger and chagrin. 



The boy says his dog has never bragged since 

 about catching red squirrels " if only the trees 

 were out of reach ! " 



When any of the winged creatures are engaged 

 in a life and death race in that way, or in any 

 other race, the tactics of the squirrel do not 

 work ; the pursuer never overshoots nor shoots 

 by his mark. The flight of the two is timed as 

 if they were parts of one whole. A hawk will 

 pursue a sparrow or a robin through a zigzag 

 course and not lose a stroke or half a stroke of 

 the wing by reason of any darting to the right 

 or left. The clue is held with fatal precision. 

 No matter how quickly nor how often the spar- 

 row or the finch changes its course, its enemy 

 changes, simultaneously, as if every move was 

 known to it from the first. 



The same thing may be noticed among the 

 birds in their love chasings ; the pursuer seems 

 to know perfectly the mind of the pursued. This 



