60 SHARP EYES. 



beneath the tree. The hawk then commonly 

 called the chicken hawk is as provident as a mouse 

 or squirrel, and lays by a store against a time of need, 

 but I should not have discovered the fact had I not 

 held my eye to him. 



An observer of the birds is attracted by any un- 

 usual sound or commotion among them. In May or 

 June, when other birds are most vocal, the jay is a 

 silent bird ; he goes sneaking about the orchards and 

 the groves as silent as a pickpocket ; he is robbing 

 birds'-nests and he is very anxious that nothing should 

 be said about it, but in the fall none so quick and 

 loud to cry " Thief, thief " as he. One December 

 morning a troop of them discovered a little screech- 

 owl secreted in the hollow trunk of an old apple-tree 

 near my house. How they found the owl out is a 

 mystery, since it never ventures forth in the light of 

 day ; but they did, and proclaimed the fact with great 

 emphasis. I suspect the bluebirds first told them, 

 for these birds are constantly peeping into holes and 

 crannies, both spring and fall. Some unsuspecting 

 bird probably entered the cavity prospecting for a 

 place for next year's nest, or else looking out a likely 

 place to pass a cold night, when it has rushed out 

 with important news. A boy who should unwit- 

 tingly venture into a bear's den when Bruin was at 

 home could not be more astonished and alarmed than 

 a bluebird would be on finding itself in the cavity of 

 a decayed tree with an owl. At any rate the blue- 

 birds joined the jays in calling the attention of all 



