66 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



Suddenly one couple sprang up and whirred, 

 and instantly all the company were up and at it. 

 But this set-to was brief and tame, and evidently 

 the equivalent of the Home, Sweet Home waltz, 

 for though I waited for half an hour after it, 

 they showed no inclination to resume the ball ; so 

 I crawled out, picked up my outfit, and left the 

 ground. 



Twenty yards down the side of the knoll, along 

 the edge of the stubble-field, I came upon evi- 

 dences of tragedy. Many feathers were scat- 

 tered around, and as it was certain that two fight- 

 ing cocks could not loosen so much plumage in 

 one spot, it seemed that here a sharp-tail had met 

 violence. A week earlier the same tell-tale signs 

 of violent death had been written on another 

 part of the ground ; so now I scouted closely. 



It was the thumb-prints of the murderer that 

 revealed him to me. A few feet from the first 

 feathers was another tuft, that evidently had 

 been knocked out by a blow, and beside them two 

 fresh parallel marks scratched in the moist earth. 

 They terminated in paw-marks ; and a few more 

 foot-prints were also visible. The streaks showed 

 where the coyote had thrust out his front feet to 

 break his rush as he dashed upon, and snatched up 



