FEATHERS OB FUR ? 43 



eyelids, and the tiny feet, which seemed hardly 

 strong enough to hold them on their perch, and 

 explained their preference for wires to rest on. 



One of the little fellows had his back to me, 

 showing the beautiful white markings on his 

 wings as they lie closed and folded together. 

 Near the end of them were white lines making 

 on the black feathers a figure resembling what 

 is known in needlework as a " crow's-foot," per- 

 haps an inch in width, and, a little above this, 

 two dainty waved bars met like a pair of eye- 

 brows. The marking was elegant in the ex- 

 treme. 



While I looked, the bird nearest me suddenly 

 lost what little interest he had in my doings, 

 turned his eyes downward, and in a moment 

 dropped upon a big grasshopper, which he car- 

 ried in his beak to a wire near the ground to 

 dispose of. Evidently, however, he was not 

 quite ready to eat, for he deliberately lifted one 

 foot, took the grasshopper in his claw, and in- 

 stantly ejected upon the ground a dark-colored 

 bolus, I should judge half an inch in diameter, 

 and more than twice as long. Then he returned 

 to his grasshopper and made short work of it. 



This seemed only to sharpen his appetite, for 

 in a moment he dragged out from the grass 

 something which startled me. Was it feathers 

 or fur or a bit of old rag ? 



