HASTY OBSERVATION 259 



very wary and quick in its movements; it is 

 nibbling grass in the meadow bottom, or clear- 

 ing its runway, or shaping its nest, when the 

 hawk poises on wing high in the air above it. 

 When the hawk discovers its victim, it descends 

 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 attended 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 hin- 

 ders the fish from seeing and avoiding its en- 

 emy ? Apparently nothing ; apparently it allows 

 itself to be seized. Every fisherman knows 

 how alert most fish are, how quickly they dis- 

 cover him and dart away, even when he is im- 

 mediately above them. All I contend for is 

 that the snake, the cat, the hawk, does not ex- 

 ert 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 



