WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



mous number, and keep up the slaughter through 

 the whole year; for when the loggerhead-shrike 

 retreats southward in the autumn, the great North- 

 ern shrike comes from British America to supply 

 his place through the winter. Then all the hawks, 

 from the nimble little sharp-shinned to the great 

 swooping buzzard, prey upon mice, and in winter 

 hover day after day over the knolls where they have 

 been driven by floods in the surrounding lowlands, 

 pouncing upon every one that is imprudent enough 

 to show his black eyes above ground. As for the 

 marsh-hawk, it regularly quarters the low fields 

 like a harrier, and eats little but mice. The owls, 

 too, are constantly after them, hunting them day 

 and night, on the prairies and in the woods, es- 

 teeming them fine food for the four owlets in the 

 hollow tree hard by; while the sand-hill crane and 

 some of the herons make a regular business of 

 seeking the underground homes and digging out 

 the timorous fugitives with their pick-axe beaks. 

 In addition to all the rest, the farmer everywhere 

 persecutes the mouse as a pest to his orchards and 

 crops. 



Has the poor little animal, then, no friends what- 

 ever? Very few, except his own endurance and 

 cunning; yet he is already so numerous, and in- 



191 



