BIRD ENEMIES. 225 



cherry-tree, and every bird took a cherry, so that 

 I lost more fruit than if I had left the owl in- 

 doors. With craning necks and horrified looks the 

 birds alighted upon the branches, and between their 

 screams would snatch off a cherry, as if the act was 

 some relief to their outraged feelings. 



The chirp and chatter of the young of birds which 

 build in concealed or inclosed places, like the wood- 

 peckers, the house wren, the high-hole, the oriole, 

 etc., is in marked contrast to the silence of the 

 fledgelings of most birds that build open and ex- 

 posed nests. The young of the sparrows, unless the 

 social sparrow be an exception, warblers, fly-catch- 

 ers, thrushes, etc., never allow a sound to escape 

 them ; and on the alarm note of their parents being 

 heard, sit especially close and motionless, while the 

 young of chimney swallows, woodpeckers, and orioles 

 are very noisy. The latter, in its deep pouch, is 

 quite safe from birds of prey, except perhaps the 

 owl. The owl, I suspect, thrusts its leg into the 

 cavities of woodpeckers and into the pocket-like nest 

 of the oriole, and clutches and brings forth the birds 

 in its talons. In one case which I heard of, a screech- 

 owl had thrust its claw into a cavity in a tree, and 

 grasped the head of a red-headed woodpecker ; being 

 apparently unable to draw its prey forth, it had 

 thrust its own round head into the hole, and in some 

 way became fixed there, and had thus died with the 

 woodpecker in its talons. 



The life of birds is beset with dangers and mishaps 



