SOME SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS vt 
By the side of his nest in the hollow tree: 
“The thing is as plain as the night to me — 
Nothing can shake my conviction firm ; 
There’s no such thing as the early worm.” 
— OLIVER HERFORD. 
“T can’t tell exactly which it was,” said Tommy Todd, 
when he was through laughing; ‘‘but I know which it 
wasn’t — it wasn’t the Short-eared Owl, for he doesn’t 
get up to breakfast at night, and so if he had looked for the 
early worm he would have found him.” 
THREE USEFUL HAWKS 
The Marsh Hawk, Harrier, Blue Hawk. About 19 inches 
long 
Length: 17-19 inches; female averaging two inches longer. 
Male: Above, bluish gray; below, white mottled with brown; 
wings brownish, long, and pointed; tail long; upper tail- 
coverts white. 
The Marsh- Hawk is the most harmless and beneficial 
of its family; it feeds upon reptiles, locusts, grasshoppers, 
and small mammals, and never disturbs domestic poultry. 
In this locality it is more plentiful in the bogs near 
fresh ponds, and in the vicinity of rivers, than in the 
salt-marshes. 
It is the summer-day Hawk, and the species most 
frequently seen in the warmest months. It flies by night 
as well as day, however, and is often a companion of the 
Screech Owl in its nocturnal rambles. 
The Red-shouldered Hawk 
Length: 18-19 inches. Also miscalled ‘‘ Hen-hawk.” The 
Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk are the real 
“ Hen-hawks.”’ 
