AN OWL'S ttEAD HOLIDAY. 261 



intimate that the bird had a barred tail, and 

 must, I thought, be one of the hawks. He did 

 not dispute the point ; and, in truth, he was a 

 modest and well-mannered young gentleman. 

 I liked him in that he knew both how to con- 

 verse and how to be silent ; without which latter 

 qualification, indeed, not even an angel would be 

 a desirable mountain-top companion. He gave 

 me information about the surrounding country 

 such as I was very glad to get ; and in the case 

 of the hawks my advantage over him, if any, 

 was mainly in this, that my lack of knowledge 

 partook somewhat more fully than his of the na- 

 ture of Lord Bacon's " learned ignorance, that 

 knows itself." 



Whatever the birds may have been, " moun- 

 tain hawks," " fish-hawks," or duck-hawks, their 

 aerial evolutions, as seen from the summit, were 

 beautiful beyond description. One day in par- 

 ticular three of them were performing together. 

 For a time they chased each other this way 

 and that at lightning speed, screaming wildly, 

 though whether in sport or anger I could not 

 determine. Then they floated majestically, high 

 above us, while now and then one would set his 

 wings and shoot down, down, till the precipitous 

 side of the mountain hid him from view ; only 

 to reappear a minute afterward, soaring again, 

 with no apparent effort, to his former height. 



