22 SHARP EYES. 
crow that first discovers it will alight near it, to make 
sure he is not deceived; then he will go away, and 
soon return with acompanion. The two alight a few 
yards from the bone, and after some delay, during 
which the vicinity is sharply scrutinized, one of the 
crows advances boldly to within a few feet of the 
coveted prize. Here he pauses, and if no trick is dis- 
covered, and the meat be indeéd meat, he seizes it and 
makes off. 
One midwinter I cleared away the snow under an 
apple-tree near the house and scattered some corn 
there. I had not seen a blue-jay for weeks, yet that 
very day they found my corn, and after that they 
came daily and partook of it, holding the kernels 
under their feet upon the limbs of the trees and peck- 
ing them vigorously. 
Of course the woodpecker and his kind have sharp 
eyes; still I was surprised to see how quickly Downy 
found out some bones that were placed in a convenient 
place under the shed to be pounded up for the hens. 
In going out to the barn I often disturbed him making 
a meal off the bite of meat that still adhered to them. 
“Look intently enough at anything,” said a poet to 
me one day, “and you will see something that would 
otherwise escape you.” I thought of the remark as I 
sat on a stump in an opening of the woods one spring 
day. I saw asmall hawk approaching; he flew to a 
tall tulip-tree and alighted on a large limb near the 
top. He eyed me and I eyed him. Then the bird 
disclosed a trait that was new to me: he hopped along 
the limb to a small cavity near the trunk, when he 
thrust in his head and pulled out some small object 
and fell to eating it. After he had partaken of it for 
some minutes he put the remainder back in his larder 

