AMERICAX ORXITHOLOGY. 129 



though their mother was a domestic fowl, and not a wild hunter of the 

 wilderness. The sun plaj-ed upon them and danced with the shadows 

 over the nest, and naught was in sight to show that tliis was the home 

 of a warrior, a hunter whose very existence depended upon killing. 

 Little bits of white down from the birds' breasts clung to the nest and 

 to the nearby branches like flakes of snow in winter. The bark of 

 some of the larger branches about the nest bore little scratches and 

 furrows as fine as those from an engraver's point, which were made by 

 the birds' talons in alighting. 



I was about to take a picture, which was no easy task so high above 

 ground, when a scream from the treetops nearby told me that one of 

 the hawks had returned, and I wondered if it meant ill or good for me. 

 Soon I heard another scream, far away and faint in the distance. I 

 looked up and far above me in the silent ether, a black speck appeared 

 which rapidly grew larger, and I knew that the mate was returning. 

 Dropping down like a comet out of a clear sky, the large bird alighted 

 with a thud on a large oak limb, not forty feet from ray head. Writh- 

 ing and twisting in its heavy yellow talons was a black and yellow 

 snake over three feet long. The bird was entirely unaware of my 

 presence, for it quietly began to smooth the glossy feathers on its broad 

 back with its bill; all the time, however, keeping an iron grip on its 

 feebly struggling prey. For fully a minute I watched it in the great- 

 est admiration and delight, and then I moved, ever so slightly and the 

 spell was broken. Those restless yellow eyes, trained to catch the 

 slightest motion met mine so quickly that they startled me, and the 

 whole appearance of the bird changed like a flash. The snake dropped 

 unnoticed to the ground, where, though its spine was broken, it 

 squirmed as though alive. The bird crouched low on its perch, as a 

 cat does before it springs; its glossy coat ruffled and its yellow eyes 

 glaring defiance. It flew directly toward my head and brought it wings 

 together just above me with a snap that made me dodge. Several 

 times it wheeled and snapped above me, so quickly that I could not turn 

 my head rapidly enough to follow its movements. The last time it 

 bumped into a bough which was almost touching my shoulder, and its 

 black tipped yellow talons came much too near my face for comfort. 

 Then for a while it circled madly about, now and then swooping down, 

 but never coming so near as before. Soon it was joined by its mate, 

 which had been out of sight in the dense tree tops nearby all the while, 

 and gradually they circled oft" into the clear blue sky; farther and farther 

 away until their voices died in the distance. And as they circled away, 

 sick at heart though they must have been, no majesty was lacking in 



