SHARP EYES. 23 
and flew away. I had seen something like feathers 
eddying slowly down as the hawk ate, and on ap- 
proaching the spot found the feathers of a sparrow 
here and there clinging to the bushes beneath the 
tree. The hawk then — commonly called the chicken 
hawk —is as provident as a mouse or squirrel, and 
lays by a store against a time of need, but I should 
not have discovered the fact had I not held my eye to 
him. 
An observer of the birds is attracted by any unusual 
sound or commotion among them. In May or June, 
when other birds are most vocal, the jay is a silent 
bird; he goes sneaking about the orchards and the 
groves as silent as a pickpocket ; he is robbing bird’s- 
nests and he is very anxious that nothing should be 
said about it; but in the fall none so quick and loud to 
ery “ Thief, thief!” as he. One December morning a 
troop of them discovered a little screech-owl secreted 
in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree near my 
house. How they found the owl out is a mystery, 
since it never ventures forth in the light of day; but 
they did, and proclaimed the fact with great emphasis. 
I suspect the bluebirds first told them, for these birds 
are constantly peeping into holes and crannies, both 
spring and fall. Some unsuspecting bird probably 
entered the cavity prospecting for a place for next 
vear’s nest, or else looking out a likely place to pass a 
cold night, when it has rushed out with important 
news. |A boy who should unwittingly venture into a 
bear’s den when Bruin was at home could not be more 
astonished and alarmed than a bluebird would be on 
finding itself in the cavity of a decayed tree with an 
owl. At any rate the bluebirds joined the jays in 
ealling the attention of all whom it might concern to 
