HASTY OBSERVATION 257 



with extended talons to the earth and seizes it. It 

 does not drop like a bolt from heaven; its descent, 

 on the contrary, is quite deliberate, and must be at- 

 tended by a sound of rushing wings that ought to 

 reach the mouse's ear, if the form escapes its eye. 



There is doubtless just as much " charming " in 

 this case as in any other, or when a fish hawk falls 

 through the air and seizes a fish near the surface 

 in perfectly clear water what hinders the fish 

 from seeing and avoiding its enemy? Apparently 

 nothing; apparently it allows itself to be seized. 

 Every fisherman knows how alert most fish are, how 

 quickly they discover him and dart away, even 

 when he is immediately above them. All I contend 

 for is that the snake, the cat, the hawk, does not 

 exert some mysterious power over its prey, but that 

 its prey in many cases loses its power to escape 

 through fear. It is said that a stuffed snake's skin 

 will charm a bird as well as the live snake. 



I came near reaching a hasty conclusion the other 

 day with regard to a chickadee's nest. The nest is 

 in a small cavity in the limb of a pear-tree near my 

 study, and the birds and I are on very friendly 

 terms. As the nest of a pair of chickadees had been 

 broken up here a few seasons ago by a mouse or 

 squirrel, I was apprehensive lest this nest share the 

 same fate. Hence when, one morning, the birds 

 were missing, and I found on inspection what ap- 

 peared to be the hair of some small animal adhering 

 to the edges of the hole that leads to the nest, I con- 

 cluded that the birds had been cleaned out again. 



