340 



CITIZEN BIRD 



Sparrow-killing is ordered by the Wise Men, you should 

 think well of me — especially you House People, who 

 love song birds. I wall tell you a secret — I am think- 

 ing of eatii ^ no birds but English Sparrows in future! " 



" So you have been 

 eating other birds?" 

 said Dodo. 



"Y-e-s, I have, but 

 not many more 

 than the Shrike 

 takes, and most- 

 ly seed-eaters — 

 hardly ever an in- 

 sect-eating song 

 bird. Do you know 

 how many bad insects 

 I eat ? " The little 

 Hawk rattled off a 

 long list, beginning 

 with grasshoppers and 

 ending with beetles ; 

 but he spoke so fast 

 that the children 

 could not remember 

 half the names he 

 mentioned. 



" Where do I live ? All over North America, though 

 I leave the colder parts in winter, for I like to be com- 

 fortable. I make my nest in some snug hole that a 

 Woodpecker has kindly left. Sometimes, for a joke, I 

 kill Sparrows and take their nest ! Or make myself a 

 home in a dove-cote — only I never seem to stay there 



Sparrow Hawk 



