138 NATURE STUDY. 



The hawks, owls and shrikes are protected b}^ their col- 

 or, but their protection is against hunger rather than against 

 other creatures. They are birds of prey and must catch 

 other living things in order to live themselves. If they 

 were so conspicuous as to give warning, they would starve. 

 So we find that a dull gray hawk, flying noiselessly through 

 the woods in fall or winter often appears to be little more 

 than a momentar}- shadow from some passing cloud. 



The owl does not fly about to seek his prey, but perches 

 on a dead limb, or on some tall, branchless stub, and waits 

 and watches. His dull colors fit so well with his surround- 

 ings that he is well-nigh invisible. 



The shrike has habits somewhat like the owl, but is a 

 bird of the daytime. He will wait on the outer branches 

 of a tree until some small bird alights near by, when he 

 will dart straight for his victim, which, if caught, he im- 

 pales on some thorn or forked twig, as every child knows 

 nowadays. As he waits in this way, although perched in 

 full view, his gray color so well matches the clouds above 

 and the prevailing dull gray of winter that he is rarely seen, 

 even by those who, with trained eyes, are looking for him. 



Nature Study has received from the Massachusetts 

 Audubon Society their Calendar for 1903, published under 

 their auspices by the Taber-Prang Art Co., Springfield, 

 Mass. It is a beautiful work of art, fully equal to its pre- 

 decessors. The colored pictures of birds were prepared 

 by Mrs. J. W. Elliot, of Boston. They are six in number 

 being accurate and at the same time artistic portrayals of 

 the Snow Bunting, Fox Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Wood 

 Thrush, Meadow Lark and Red Crossbill. Moreover, each 

 bird portrait is charmingly placed in an appropriate setting 

 of landscape or foliage, suggestive both of the season and 

 the habits of the species. In the coloring of the plumage, 

 the artist has been remarkably successful, .so that the Cal- 

 endar will be, throughout the year, a delight and a source 

 of inspiration. 



